Even the Best Will Fall
by neko no warai
Summary: A rescue mission leaves Tai deathly sick. Battling with guilt, fever and an unknown enemy trying to take over his body, Tai slowly begins to realise that he has to rely on his friends, and perhaps Matt in particular. //Very light Yamachi//
1. To the Rescue

Summary: A rescue mission leaves Tai deathly sick, fighting a poison that none of the digidestined had heard of. Battling with guilt, fever and an unknown enemy trying to take over his body, Tai slowly begins to realise that he has to rely on his friends, or more specifically, Matt. //*light* Yamachi.//

Words: 4,550

Notes: A non-one-shot! Duh, duh, duh! The Yamachi is rather small, sadly, and won't appear for a while. I just liked making Tai suffer, I think...

*

**Chapter One: To the Rescue!**

"I think we should split up."

"What? Are you crazy? We can't separate at a time like this!"

"No, I think Koushiro's right, if we don't split up, then we won't be able to get into the castle."

"Aww, Sora, not you too!"

"Sorry, Tai, but what other way is there?"

Taichi Yagami let out an indignant huff. He hated it when the entire group was against him, but as leader, he had to listen to everyone. Beside him, Kari looked up worriedly, not liking the arguments.

They were trying to break into a heavily guarded castle, where TK and most of their digimon were held captive. Only Matt and Jyou still had their partners and Matt was in no condition to do anything. His worry over his little brother was clouding his mind and making him impatient just to leave. Tai looked over the group, taking in each of their expressions. Seeing how determined they were, he finally sighed.

"Alright, fine, we'll separate."

Koushiro nodded, proud of his friend for making what he figured was the right decision, "Good. Seeing as only two of us still have digimon, we should put one of them in each group." Murmurs of agreement ran through the group; it was a logical decision.

Jyou cleared his throat, "How about we have one group make a big commotion at the front and the other group sneaks in through the back."

"That's a good idea!" Mimi squealed, "But it'll be really dangerous!"

"I'm going in!" Matt declared, leaving no room for discussion.

As silence fell over the group, Tai finally decided to take charge once more, "We know, Matt. Jyou, Koushiro, I think you two should definitely stay behind. Along with Mimi and Kari."

Several of the group gasped, "K-Kari? Meaning you won't be going with her?" Sora's voice was that of complete disbelief.

Tai closed his eyes to control his emotion, "Right. I don't want her going into the castle. If she's with you guys, then at least I know that if things get bad, you can run."

A stunned silence followed; Tai had always been almost irrationally protective of his little sister. If at all possible, he never let her leave his side, especially if they were planning an attack like this. Matt in particular was studying the wild-haired boy, understanding to some extent what Tai was thinking. After a few moments, determined brown eyes opened once more.

"Like I said, Jyou, Koushiro, Mimi and Kari should cause the commotion. Sora, Matt and I have to be the ones who go in."

"Why?" Kari asked in a soft voice. There was no accusation or doubt in her eyes, simply a need to understand. Everyone else waited for the answer with baited breath.

Kneeling down to her level, Tai put on a slight grin, "Simple. Matt is going in no matter what, right? He and Sora make a good team, and we'll need Sora's brains to come up with some sort of plan. Jyou has to stay out because he's the only doctor we've got. If he's captured, then we're all in danger. Koushiro is too intelligent for his own good, so if any one can come up with a way to get their attention, it'll be him. And Mimi has a certain... _finesse_ that I know she'll use to fix up every crack in the plan. Or at least make them obvious."

Kari nodded, but the rest of the group could only stare at their leader with something akin to wonder. Never before had they really been given a reason for Tai doing the things he does, if he even thought through a plan in the first place. They were stunned silent to find out that all they'd needed to do was make Kari ask! After all, Tai never could deny her.

Shaking her head to clear it, Sora smiled gently, "Sounds great. We've gotta get going now before it gets dark." With a final goodbye to each other, and a shout for good luck, the two groups split up. They knew they would have to act fast, because the raider digimon always returned by sundown.

As they were running towards the back of the castle, Sora made a realisation, "How do we know when they've made their distraction?"

Tai snorted, "Oh, I'm sure we'll know." Matt said nothing, his concentration on one thing and one thing only; getting his little brother back. Beside him, Gabumon was doing his best to keep up with the humans' longer legs. He didn't want to digivolve until it was necessary.

After another minute of running, the black castle came into view. So large was it, that they couldn't even see the end of the walls. Stationed at the back door entrance, two digimon stood, clothed in black armour. Some winged digimon could be seen soaring overhead, and quite a few more were standing defensively on the walls.

"It really is tight security," Sora whispered nervously as they all stood at the edge of the digital forest, getting an idea of their chances.

Tai grinned, "Yeah, but I bet the flying guys and the ones on the wall will leave. Then all we have to bash through are the guards at the door, right?"

Sora gave him a sceptical look but nodded none the less. Stepping back further into the safety of the forest, the three sat down, waiting for a sign of chaos from the front of the castle. Gabumon stood patiently where he could still see the castle. It wasn't long before Tai struck up conversation.

"So how do you think we should do this?"

Matt looked over with a glare, "Go in, find my brother, get out."

Sora sighed, "C'mon Yamato, don't be irrational. That's Tai's job."

"Hey!"

Ignoring the offended boy, Sora moved so that she was kneeling in front of Matt, "If you think it through, there's a better chance of things going smoothly, right?"

Matt snorted in answer, standing to escape the girl's intense gaze and wanting to simply barge into the castle. Seeing this, Tai's eyes narrowed. He didn't want to split the group up in the first place, but since it was already done, he figured he'd have to make it work.

Getting off the ground himself, Tai stormed up to the blond boy, "Listen up, Matt, 'cause I'm only telling you once. We're a team. Three of us. Our job is to get your brother and our digimon and get the heck out of here. If you go running in there, acting like you are now and get yourself hurt or captured, then it will be impossible to get your brother out!"

Matt growled, grabbing the front of Tai's shirt angrily, "You think I don't know that?! You think that if there was any other way to save TK, I would be standing here _with you_?" Sora gasped, but Tai's eyes were as calm as ever.

"It doesn't matter now, does it Matt? We're stuck together. If you don't get that through your head, then we're done for."

"Quit acting like you know everything! It's not _your_ little brother stuck in some stupid bad guy's castle!! It's mine! So quit acting like you understand how I feel!"

"You think I wouldn't feel the same?!" Tai's voice rose to match Matt's even if, for once, he was not angry with the other. All he wanted to do was make him understand.

"I don't care!"

"TK's a strong, smart boy, Matt! He'll be able to handle himself even without your—" The sound of a fist connecting with a jaw filled the forest. Instantly, Tai felt his face throbbing, his head turned to the side with the force of the impact and his eyes a little dazed. Still, he didn't lift a hand up.

Matt simply stood there, holding onto Tai by his shirt. His hand tingled, going slightly numb from the punch, and his arms shook. The anger was draining out of him slowly but surely, leaving him with the consequences of what he'd done.

Feeling the other's shaking, Tai brought a hand up to cover the one on his shirt. A small, pained smile formed on his face as he turned back to Matt, eyes already forgiving. Seeing that only made Matt shake harder, until he finally let go of the shirt.

"Feel better?" Tai asked softly, not bothering to wipe off the blood trailing down from his split lip. As he expected, Matt said nothing. "Well, at least now we can go in as a team, right?"

A shaky nod came from the other, causing Tai's grin to widen. He encouragingly squeezed the other's hand before letting go and turning to Sora, instantly seeing her shocked expression. From the distance, a loud crash sounded. His grin faded to a look of determination and Tai walked forward, moving to stand beside Gabumon.

"T-that the signal?" Sora hesitantly voiced, a little shaken up from what she'd just seen.

"The flyers are gone," Gabumon affirmed quietly, "and the wall-guards are leaving now."

"That's it then, let's get going. Ready Matt?"

A determined fire seemed to light up within the once cold blue eyes, and Matt nodded. Waiting for the perfect moment, each held their breath. As one of the guards at the door turned his head toward the noises coming from the front of the castle, a silent agreement set the group in motion.

"Gabumon, Blue Blaster!"

The horned digimon wasted no time in obeying his partner, sending out a ball of blue energy towards the surprised guards. As soon as the light and confusion cleared, Tai tackled one of the armoured digimon to the ground, letting Gabumon take the other until Sora and Matt were in the castle. A sharp pain suddenly shot through his side, but Tai paid it no attention, the adrenaline quickly masking it.

"Close the gate!" Sora called, not waiting for Gabumon and Tai; they would make it. Nodding decisively, Matt began turning the crank that lowered a large blockade of metal bars. Seeing this, Tai and Gabumon jumped up, diving under the gate before it touched the ground. Panting lightly, Tai pushed himself up off the ground.

"Everyone alright?" Tai asked once his breath was under control. They had already set off down the large corridor that they hoped would lead them to their captured comrades.

Matt snorted, "Isn't that what we should be asking you?"

Tai grinned, "I'm fine! Let's just find the others so we can go."

Shrugging, Matt let the subject drop and focussed on the task at hand.

***

"Man, I wish they had a map or something!" Tai whined as they turned around in yet another dead end.

"I still don't understand why they had a metal gate but didn't use it," Sora murmured.

"Maybe it was a trap?" Gabumon suggested nervously.

"Doesn't matter!" Tai said confidently, "We're already in here, so let's just finish this!"

Matt let the encouraging words wash over him, helping to hold his growing worry and impatience at bay. Suddenly, they heard footsteps. Freezing, the four leaned up against a wall, straining their ears to follow the sounds coming from the approaching digimon.

"Some day, I'm gonna be a great ninja-mon! Then I won't have to go about feeding a bunch of vermin every day!"

A second voice snorted, "Yeah right, and I'll marry an Apemon."

"Hey! It could happen!"

"Whatever. Just hurry up and bring our prisoners their food."

The word "prisoners" grabbed hold of their attention, and without a moment's hesitation, they silently followed what they found out were two rookie digimon, both adorned with similar armour to the ones outside. It soon became obvious as to why they couldn't find their friends before; there was a secret door.

As one of the rookie digimon turned a small wheel and pushed on the stone wall, it gave way to what looked like a staircase. Carrying the food, the digimon made his way down, leaving behind the other. As soon as the second walked away from the new staircase, Matt and Gabumon rushed forward.

"Matt! Wait!" Tai hissed, rushing to keep up and leaving Sora to stand guard worriedly. As noiselessly but quickly as possible, they descended. Torches were their only source of light until, finally, the staircase evened out to reveal a much brighter room, with a row of cells on either side. Eyes widening, Matt picked up his pace, his sights set on the digimon that was bringing them food. His heavy, angry footsteps gave him away, and the digimon turned warily.

Stopping sharply, Matt glared, "Give me the password to let them out." No explanation, no introduction, just a demand. Gabumon and Tai were soon at his side, staring down the lone digimon. Collective gasps came from their captured friends, but not a word was said.

Through the armour, they could see their new foe smirk, "Why should I?"

Growling, Matt took a menacing step forward, "Because I said so."

"What a stupid reason! How about instead, I just let you join them! Oh, but that would mean I'd have to kill three to make room... how about that human?"

Any restraint in Matt snapped and, with a yell, he charged forward. The armoured digmon was still grinning, causing warning bells to go off in Tai's head that made him instantly dash forward to stop the blond. As the digimon pulled out what looked like some sort of dagger, and Matt was nearly on him, Tai literally pounced, dragging the other down at the same time as a sudden pain erupted in his shoulder. Biting back a yell, he protectively covered the lithe body beneath him and waited, ignoring the struggling beneath him.

"Tai! Let me go! He threatened TK! He could hurt him! He—"

"Gabumon will hold him off for a bit," Tai said softly, "But I'm not letting you go until you promise to be more careful!"

"Tai! This isn't the time!"

"Yamato!" Tai barked, his tone leaving no room for refusal.

With a slight glare, Matt nodded and Tai forced himself off the other, once again putting the pain to the back of his mind. Looking back to make sure Gabumon was doing alright, Tai ran towards what looked to be the control box. It had a large selection of brightly coloured buttons that were helpfully labelled. Seeing one that said "Open all cells", Tai grinned.

Meanwhile, Matt had digivolved Gabumon into Garurumon and they were now easily beating down their opponent. Unfortunately, he still wouldn't tell them the password, which Tai soon realised was necessary. This became obvious when the control panel said, in an annoyingly calm female voice, "_Please enter password to continue with command_."

Ignoring the fight behind him, Tai began punching in any combination of numbers he could think of.

"_Incorrect password._"

A different combination.

"_Incorrect password._"

Getting annoyed, Tai cursed the thing as he tried another set of numbers.

"_Incorrect password._"

"Gah! You stupid box! Let my friends out!"

"Tai!" A familiar voice called to him, belonging to Koushiro's digimon.

Turning in the direction of Tentomon's voice, Tai let out an exasperated sound, "Just hang on! I'm trying!"

"No! You don't understand! I think I know the password!"

"WHAT?"

Tentomon winced at the frustration in the other's voice, but continued, "I watched the other guy type it in a few times."

"Well, anything's gotta be better than this!" Tai encouraged, "So out with it!"

"Okay. Try _9262244_!"

Shrugging, Tai put the numbers in, holding his breath as he waited for the panel's response.

"_Password accepted. Now opening all cell doors._"

"YES! You rock, Tentomon!"

"Aww, it was nothing," the bug-digimon blushed as the doors finally opened. At the same time, Garurumon sent a final, devastating attack that rendered their opponent unconscious.

"Brother!" TK's voice was Matt's only warning before he found himself holding onto 70 pounds of a brother.

"Takeru," Matt whispered, returning the embrace tightly. From the background, Tai grinned, a flash of worry making its way into his heart as he wondered if his little sister was alright. Taking a breath to calm himself, Tai cleared his throat.

"We should go now, before someone realises we're here. Hopefully Sora memorised the way or something!"

Matt looked over at the wild-haired boy and nodded, putting TK down and grabbing his hand to lead him up the stairs. The rest of the digimon followed with Tai pulling up the rear. As they burst through the entrance of the secret stairway, they were met with a fretful young girl who wanted nothing more than to smack her friends silly. Luckily, the sight of her digimon took all worried thoughts away and she pulled Biyomon into an embrace.

"Let's get out of here!" Tai stated with finality. The now rather large group all agreed and they were on their way. As it turned out, Sora had been contemplating the way out for most of her wait, so she guided the group toward what her calculations said would be the exit. To everyone's relief, the large metal gate came into view. Once again, Matt turned the crank. With a groan of protest, the gate rose slowly, revealing the angry faces of more armoured digimon.

"Aw man!" groaned Sora.

Tai laughed, "It's alright, we can take 'em, right guys?"

A chorus of agreement rose and they started the fight once more. Garurumon led the way for the digimon into battle, being the only one in his champion form apart from Gatomon. TK and Sora soon changed that.

"Patamon digivolve to... Angemon!"

"Biyomon digivolve to... Birdramon!"

The fight was nonexistent. With four champion digimon and two rookies, the others didn't stand a chance. Agumon, however, stayed back. He hadn't gotten a chance to truly reunite with Tai with all the chaos going on and he was worried. His partner hadn't seemed like himself, staying at the back and keeping quiet.

"Tai?" The small dinosaur's voice brought his partner's attention away from the dying fight.

The boy smiled brightly, "Hey Agumon!"

"Everything okay?"

Tilting his head to the side, Tai blinked, "Yeah, everything's fine. Are you alright? You didn't get hurt or anything, right?"

Agumon shook his head, but he couldn't let go of his worry over the other, "Do you want me to fight?"

Looking over at the other digimon, Tai shook his head, "Nah. It's over now." It was true; already Angemon had digivolved back to his rookie form.

"We did it," Matt sighed with relief, one hand still firmly holding TK's.

Sora nodded, "Yeah, we sure did."

"Should we get going?" TK wondered, looking over at the two digimon they could count on for transportation. Both Garurumon and Birdramon knelt down, making it easy for the others to climb on.

"Yup! Let's go see the others!" Tai declared as he jumped onto Garurumon, along with TK and Matt. Agumon still looked a little worried, but got on nonetheless. As expected, Tentomon and Patomon chose to fly along side Birdramon while the others rode, sitting on the feet. Sora relaxed into the familiar position and finally, they were off. Time to put the castle behind them.

***

As Tai had hoped, the other four had run when it got dangerous, shortly before Tai's group had left. They found each other easily, basking in the victorious feeling of accomplishing their goal. With the last of the sun's rays disappearing behind the horizon, the digidestined set up camp. As they sat comfortable around the fire, they discussed all that had happened.

"What exactly did you guys do? I mean, those guards cleared out quickly!" Sora exclaimed, her bright eyes trained on Koushiro.

With a blush, Koushiro shook his head, "You don't want to know. Really, you don't." Everyone laughed, the sound filling up the once silent night. Sitting between Matt and Kari, Tai kept a grin firmly on his face. Honestly, all he wanted to do was go to sleep. Or at least go off on his own to do something about the throbbing pain in his shoulder and side.

"What about you guys?" Jyou wondered, "Did you have any problems? Did anyone get hurt?" The blue-haired doctor-to-be was staring in askance at Tai in particular, but it was Matt who answered.

"It went fine once we found some digimon to lead us to the others."

Jyou breathed out a sigh of relief, "That's good. I was worried."

Little did he know, Jyou wasn't the only one who was worried. Kari kept glancing at her brother in concern, wondering about the change in attitude as well as what looked to her like a pained smile. Sort of like when he got hit in the head with a soccer ball one day at practice but kept grinning to show he was fine. Of course, the bruise on his cheek hadn't escaped anyone's notice, but Tai had already said it wasn't important.

Agumon was in a similar state. Seated in front of his partner, he wanted to confront the other about what was bothering him, because to the acute dinosaur digimon, there was obviously something. Still, he waited anxiously, until after many long talks, TK yawned.

"We should go to bed," Mimi stated after she yawned as well. It wasn't long before eight sleeping bags were laid out around the now-extinguished fire. Seven of them held what seemed like sleeping figures. Alone, Tai stared up at the star-filled sky. He had volunteered to take first watch, wanting to think over all that had happened. Beside him, Agumon sighed restlessly.

"T~ai," he whined, "What's wrong?"

Glancing behind him to make sure the others were truly asleep, Tai shrugged, "It's nothing much, Agumon."

"Nothing much? Meaning it's still something?"

Tai rolled his eyes, "You're so persistent!"

"I know!" Agumon grinned, "Now tell me."

Looking away from his digital partner's trusting eyes, Tai answered, "I just feel like I failed."

Agumon blinked, "Failed? Failed what?"

Tai shrugged once more, "I don't know. Failed as a leader. Failed as a partner. I mean, I was the one who pretty much got us into that mess in the first place! And then I let you get captured... and Kari was so worried for Gatomon... and Matt..."

"Oh, Tai," Aguman sighed, "Please don't blame yourself."

"But I'm their leader, Agumon! I'm supposed to make sure these things don't happen! And you're my best friend!"

"I'm back, right? You got me back, Tai. You saved me."

Tai snorted, "Sure. I jumped on some digimon, snuck around like a thief, tackled Matt and got the password from Tentomon. I sure saved you alright."

"Tai! Stop it! Are you just going to wallow in self pity like this?" Agumon ran around to the other side to catch Tai's fleeting gaze. He was stunned to see them glimmering, obviously wet.

"I'm sorry, buddy. I just... it's just hard sometimes, I guess. If I could, I would save this world all on my own, as long as the others could be safe."

Agumon smiled softly, "I know, Tai. But you don't have to. We'll follow you wherever you want to go. We'll always be behind you, especially when you need us."

"Yeah," Tai agreed softly, "You guys are the best." _But who will be in front of me? Who will guide me?_

Suddenly, a searing pain shot through his shoulder, causing the boy to bite down on his lip harshly to keep from crying out. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth and his eyes watered, but he was silent. Agumon watched on, terrified to see the unexpected action from his partner.

"Tai?"

The voice didn't penetrate through the pain. That was how blinding and terrible it was. Why wasn't it fading to a dull ache like all the other times? Why was it so white-hot all of a sudden? Bringing a hand to his shoulder in an effort to stifle the pain, Tai couldn't help but let out a tiny moan.

"Tai?!"

Shuddering, Tai let the worried voice of his friend engulf him, bringing his attention away from the pain. It finally began to fade at an agonisingly slow rate, leaving Tai panting for breath. He opened his eyes, not knowing when he'd closed them in the first place. Before him, Agumon was staring up at him, fear and worry evident.

Tai put on a shaky grin, "I'm fine, Agumon." The pain had finally returned to the gentler ache he had grown used to.

Agumon shook his head, "No you're not!"

"It's just a cut, I think. Nothing to worry about."

Again, Agumon shook his head; it was obvious that he refused to accept that as an answer, "Show me!"

Tai was still for a moment before he finally nodded, turning his back to his digimon. He carefully pulled down his right sleeve, trying not to aggravate the painful cut any further. A worried noise came from Agumon.

"It's bloody," the digimon whispered fearfully.

Tai grimaced, "Is it really? I haven't actually gotten to look at it. My head doesn't turn that way." The feeble attempt at a joke had no effect on the little dinosaur.

"You should show Jyou," Agumon stated softly, looking away from the wound.

"No. That would just worry the others. I already failed once, I don't need to do it again. Besides, it'll heal, right?" Tai fixed his sleeve once more, turning to face his downcast digimon.

"But—"

"Please, Agumon."

Sighing dejectedly, Agumon nodded, "Okay."

"Thanks."

In the dark of the night, neither of them knew that their conversation had not gone unnoticed. Lying awake in his sleeping bag, Matt pondered over all he had learned. Originally, he had trouble sleeping because of all the raging emotions he had naturally suppressed, caused by the capture of his brother. As he accidentally caught Tai's confessions to his digimon, however, sleep became impossible.

He couldn't see anything, of course, so when it had gone silent and Agumon had cried out to his partner, Matt could feel a whole new set of emotions building. Sometimes, the digimon's voice was too soft for him to hear, but Tai's was as clear as usual, if pained, and it had given away a fact that would be vital to Matt's understanding; Tai was hurt.

When the voices stopped, indicating their talk was over, Matt found sleep continued to evade him.


	2. The Wound

Words: 4, 597

Note: For future reference, I'm using their Japanese names as a base, but Yamato is still called Matt by everyone (because he needed a nickname, and no one takes "Yama" but Tai. We'll just say they gave him that name because he looks American.) Also, thanks for all the reviews so far~! It definitely motivates me to update!

*

**Chapter Two: The Wound**

They were walking again, moving forward to a destination they could only hope was right. Tai had asked Sora to lead, under the pretence that she knew their area the best, having flown over it with Birdramon. Really, he just wanted to stay back and go at his own, pained pace. Sleep had been terrible, arriving only when the sun was beginning to peak over the hills in the distance.

They had woken him up two hours later.

It was not a pleasant awakening, either. After all, how wonderful is it to wake up and realise your entire right arm, your _dominant_ arm, was unmoveable? Not that wonderful, Tai could tell you. Not to mention the occasional twinges from his side and the sudden spasms of pain in his shoulder. No, waking up to that almost made him wish he'd never gone to sleep.

Eating was another problem. His stomach protested anything even remotely edible, something the boy couldn't understand. He was always hungry! So he'd told the others that he would check around the area and eat whatever he found along the way. Tai could have sworn Matt had given him a suspicious look, but he'd let it pass. As usual, Agumon had accompanied him faithfully, worried but not sure what to do.

That led them to where they were now; walking towards an unnamed goal. With each step, a jolt would tear its way through his injury, blurring his vision for a moment. He didn't know how long he could handle it, but he would try. It was no use stopping now to take a look at it, after all. So, with his vision fuzzy and his mind jumbled, he continued.

Unfortunately, in such a condition he couldn't see the root that all of the others had carefully stepped over. His mind couldn't process what was happening as his body fell forward. He did, however, realise what had happened when the impact with the ground sent a wrenching pain through his shoulder.

Shuddering and gasping, Tai tried to curl into himself, wanting only for the pain to stop. He didn't think about anyone seeing him, or thinking he was weak, or even that he had failed them. In fact, he didn't think, period. He couldn't. The pain was too intense, strong enough that he began to feel sick to the stomach as well. He tried very hard to hold it down...

Suddenly, a soothing voice broke through the pain, accompanied by a soft touch anchoring him to the world once more. Sensing that touch as one that was getting rid of the pain, Tai tried to go toward it, pushing himself up with one arm. A gentle hand guided him and before he knew what was happening, he was on his feet, leaning against something warm. His eyes remained tightly closed as he fought the last of the sharp pain.

"Take it slow, Tai. It'll pass. Just breathe."

It wasn't the words that Tai needed so much as the voice. Something to keep him from falling into his world of pain alone. As reality caught up to him, shame made him forget he was even injured. He didn't want to be so weak, he didn't want the others to see him fall. What kind of leader would he be then? Still, the soothing voice continued, and he realised he was walking forward.

"One step at a time, alright? Tell me if you need to stop."

"Yama," Tai moaned softly, recognising the voice.

Tai felt his support freeze, and he had to stop with it. Slowly, he forced his eyes open, glad for the trees overhead that blocked out the sun. Looking over tiredly at Matt, his gaze was caught and held by intense blue eyes. Though he couldn't place the emotion in them, Tai figured it couldn't be good.

Finally, Matt sighed, "Yeah, I'm here. I'm not leaving, either, so just relax, okay?"

Tai looked down in shame, "Sorry Yama."

The blond chuckled lightly, nervously, brushing off the apology, "You've never called me that, you know."

Tai froze, "I..."

"Just walk. It's fine, I'm just not used to it. None of the others really call me Yamato, other than Sora."

Tai frowned as he started walking again, "The others..."

Again, Matt sighed, "They don't know. Kari's up there keeping their attention."

"Thank you," Tai whispered, straightening up a little. The pain was once more just a throbbing pulse in his shoulder, manageable apart from the fact that walking still caused jolts to sear through him.

Seeing Tai's effort to walk on his own, Matt slowly let him go, ignoring the sense of loss he felt because of it. Tai inwardly sighed and kept going, grateful for the help despite the embarrassment. Ahead, he saw the rest of the group gathered around what he guessed was his sister. As if she sensed his mere presence, she poked her head up to meet Tai's eyes, a silent question there. When Tai nodded, Kari smiled softly and returned to whatever she was doing.

"Are you sure it's not poisonous, Jyou?" Kari's worried voice rang out. It was an act, Tai could tell, but it was a very convincing one. The group were all staring down at something.

Jyou coughed, "Well, I can't be positive. I mean, I don't want to touch it. I'm probably allergic to it, you know."

Tai grinned, finally joining the group to see what they were staring at. A bug-like digimon was in the middle, almost tiny compared to all the other digimon they'd seen so far. Of course, it was still much bigger than any of the bugs back in their world. TK had a stick that he used to gently prod the digimon, making it flutter its wings but not take flight.

"I think it's kind of cute!" He declared, poking it once more.

"But what if Kari's right? What if it is poisonous? Or rabid? Or hungry?!" Mimi was working herself into a panic, so Tai broke into their conversation.

"It hasn't hurt us yet, has it?"

The group paused to contemplate this, slowly nodding in acceptance. Kari's eyes twinkled; she had never been afraid of the bug in the first place, but her brother's confidence could make anyone suddenly brave. Matt just grunted, keeping up the appearance of a moody rebel even though his concerned blue eyes constantly glanced over at Tai.

"Let's just take a break if you're all so fascinated with a bug," Matt said in an annoyed voice. In truth, he just wanted Tai to have a chance to sit down; he was still looking paler than ever before.

Tai grinned gratefully, "Sure. And then we can have lunch!"

The group groaned affectionately, having grown used to Tai's antics. Feeling his shoulder throb warningly, the wild-haired boy casually walked up to a nearby boulder and sat down, leaning his back gingerly against it. From there he could watch everyone in the group; the most he could do as leader at the moment.

Agumon walked up to him, climbing in his lap in an attempt to comfort his partner. Sighing slightly, Tai wrapped an arm around his digimon, glad to have someone who cared so much. He didn't like being alone at all. Deep down, he wondered if that was the real reason he didn't want to look weak in front of everyone, because then why would they need him?

"You're not going to eat lunch again, are you," Agumon said sadly, breaking through Tai's thoughts.

Tai nearly groaned at the thought, "I don't know, Agumon."

The dinosaur digimon let the conversation drop, not wanting to aggravate his partner further.

Eyelids drooping, Tai struggled to stay awake and alert. His shoulder throbbed dully, but he had almost grown so used to it that sleep would be inviting. Silence began to build between the human and his partner, but neither looked about to stop it. Tai let his eyes close.

Finally, after what felt like ages, Agumon spoke, "Kari's coming."

"Thanks," the boy whispered as he blinked his chocolate brown eyes open once more.

"Tai?"

"Hey, Kar. What's up?"

The young digidestined of light sat worriedly in front of her brother, honey-coloured eyes filled with concern. Tai was beginning to feel really guilty about worrying his friends.

"We got the food out," Kari suggested hopefully, not entirely understanding what was wrong with her brother.

Tai put on a smile, "Really? Why don't you go get some?"

Kari ignored the question, "What's wrong, Tai?"

"What do you mean?"

A flash of hurt flittered through honey eyes, "Why won't you tell me? What hurts? Why won't you eat?"

_Too many questions, too much guilt_. Tai closed his eyes to block it all out, "Sorry, Kari. I'm just not feeling all that great." He felt small arms wrap around him, crushing his partner in between.

"Do you feel like I did when I got sick?" Kari asked worriedly, her voice soft and scared. Her head was buried in Tai's shirt, so she didn't see the sudden pain in his eyes.

Choking on the words and the guilt, Tai just shook his head, "N-no. Only a little tired." He could feel Agumon let out a sigh against his chest, but the little dinosaur said nothing. "Go on and get some food, Kar," Tai said softly, after a few seconds of silence. With a tiny nod and one last worried glance, Kari ran off to do as she was told, only because she didn't want to hurt her brother further.

"You didn't tell her?" a light voice asked in a tone that Tai couldn't place. Tilting his head back a bit, he took in Matt's impassive face, focusing a little longer than necessary on his bright blue eyes.

"No, there wasn't anything important to say."

Matt snorted, a look of disapproval on his face, "How about the fact that you couldn't even move because of pain? Or that you look like you got no sleep _or_ food since the others got captured? Or—"

"Alright," Tai winced, "I get it, I get it."

Matt sighed, "No, Tai, I don't think you do. If you want to be our leader, than we have to know that you'll do what's best for us."

Tai looked down, shame written in his features as all of his self-doubts caught up to him, "I do, Matt. I try, but I—nevermind, forget it."

"You're missing my point," Matt stated with annoyance, walking around the boulder to sit in front of Tai in much the same position as Kari had.

Seeing that Tai looked ready to answer, Matt cut in quickly, "What's best for us right now is that you get better. Even if we don't know the details, we can see that something's wrong with you. By not telling us, it makes us doubt you."

It was the harsh truth, but Matt figured the other needed to hear it. Tai's grip on his digimon tightened, but Agumon didn't protest. Instead, he rubbed his head affectionately against the other in a sign of encouragement.

"I don't want... to," Tai whispered, trying to keep the insecurity out of his voice.

Matt resisted the urge to shake some sense into the other, "Why not?"

Tai shrugged, regretting the movement when it sent a new jolt through his shoulder.

"You wouldn't be weak, you know," Matt tried, hesitantly reaching out to put a hand on Tai's shoulder in comfort. The reaction he got, however, was anything but what he expected. The wild-haired boy gasped, and whipped his head up, looking to the sky in an attempt to keep tears of pain in while biting down on his lip. _I will not scream, I will not scream, I will not—_

"Tai?" the blond asked fearfully, snatching his hand back as if he'd been burned. Agumon, who had been silent since Kari's arrival long minutes ago, wiggled a bit to get Tai to let him go. Unconsciously, Tai did so, allowing the digimon to climb up on the rock and look down into pained brown eyes.

"Will you show him?"

Wide blue eyes looked confused, "Show me...?"

"Please Tai?" Agumon begged, not liking the way Tai was shaking. Tai knew he could deny his partner nothing.

Slowly, painfully, he turned around, once more pulling down his sleeve. He still had no idea what it looked like, but he couldn't imagine it was all that bad. The blond let out shaky noise and before he knew it, Tai was alone again, staring at Agumon sadly. _Why did he run?_ Tai asked himself, not bothering to turn around again but instead resting his good arm atop the boulder and closing his eyes.

Suddenly, something cool pressed up again his heated skin, sending a jolt through him and making his whole body spasm. Trying to turn to see what was going on, he felt a hand in his hair, stopping his progress. He let out a noise of protest and was surprised to feel the hand moving gently, soothingly.

"Sorry, Tai. I just have to clean it off."

Matt's voice was almost like a blanket to Tai, draping over him and covering him with a sense of safety. It calmed him down and sent him into a dazed state. The coolness continued to dab around his wound, bringing an odd sense of relief to it. He slowly felt himself drifting, thankful that he was not alone anymore.

"Tai?"

The boy in question let out a soft "hmm?", momentarily forgetting about everything other than the cool sensation on his back and the comforting fingers in his hair.

"How did this happen?" Unfortunately, his blond friend would not let him just sleep. "It looks like you were stabbed or something. It's hard to see beneath the blood."

"Sorry," Tai whispered, feeling the dark of sleep come to claim him.

Matt shook his head even though the other couldn't see it, "Forget about that, just tell me how."

Not fully in his right mind, Tai answered truthfully, "Ninja-mon wannabe had a weapon. You wouldn't listen. Jumped on you." His fading mind could only produce half sentences, but it was clear that they made sense enough for the other, because Matt froze.

He could see the whole scene playing out in his mind as if it was a play and he was watching from the audience. He remembered charging blindly, wanting to hurt the enemy digimon for threatening his little brother. He could see himself falling, pushed from behind by what he found out was Tai. He could almost feel Tai's weight pinning him down once more, stopping his struggles to get free. He could even remember the other's tone of urgency when he'd begged for Matt to be more careful. Of course! That was why Tai acted that way, because he had...

"Oh heavens," Matt whispered shakily, realising Tai had probably saved his life, and he didn't even know. Not only that, but he'd been angry with the other, and Tai had gotten hurt for him!

Tai's pleading voice broke through his panicked thoughts, "Don't stop, Yama."

Matt wasn't quite sure what exactly the wild-haired boy was talking about, but he put the guilt to the back of his mind and resumed his gentle washing none the less. The blood was all but gone, but the festering wound beneath wasn't what Matt had been hoping to see. Shaking his head to clear it, he also continued to run his fingers through the soft brown hair, feeling the boy's breathing begin to even out. Matt turned to the silent digimon watching him.

"How much will he hate me if I take him to Jyou?" he asked softly, even though he didn't think the answer would make a difference.

Agumon gave a dinosaur-style shrug, "He wouldn't hate you, Matt, but he'd be angry, I think. And sad. He would be angry and sad with himself."

Matt winced, seeing that the digimon was probably right. Still, Tai needed medical attention; yellow, repulsive liquid seeping out of a puffy red stab wound couldn't be good, right? Thinking it over, Matt put his wet cloth on the ground and pulled Tai's sleeve back over the injury. He didn't have anything to wrap it in; another reason he felt the need to tell Jyou.

Groaning at the thought, Matt buried his head into his hands, "What do I do, Agumon? I've gotta help him, but he doesn't want help!"

Agumon seemed to consider the question for a moment before he suddenly brightened up, "Ask him!"

Matt blinked. "Huh?"

"Ask him to show Jyou! For you and Kari!"

"But we've asked him before—"

Agumon insistently shook his head, "No, we _told_ him to. We didn't _ask_ him to."

"But what difference would it—" and then realisation struck, "Oh! He would do it for us, wouldn't he? Just not for himself." Agumon nodded vigorously, a hopeful light in his eyes. Although he didn't like using Tai's kindness against him, he had to do something.

"It's his own fault for being stubborn," the digimon stated with finality, not realising he was voicing his thoughts. The confused blond just let it pass, instead debating whether or not he should wake the other up.

Seeing the brunet moan in pain was answer enough. Instantly, his hands were gently hoisting Tai up, pulling him into a half-embrace in an attempt to keep him steady. He wanted to get him to Jyou as soon as possible, and he had quickly found out that Tai hated to be weak. Matt wasn't sure if he was helping or hurting his friend by waking him up while standing, but it was worth a shot.

"Tai, c'mon, you gotta wake up," he called softly, keeping one arm firmly around Tai's waist. The boy groaned before opening his brown eyes once again, though he was unable to see anything other than dark green.

"Wasup? 'Vryone okay?" His words were muffled and slurred with sleep, but the message was clear.

Matt shook his head in slight exasperation, "Yeah, Tai. Everyone's fine other than you."

Fine brown eyebrows drew together and Tai pulled back just enough to look into concerned but determined blue eyes. He wanted to protest, to say that he was fine, but Matt had already seen him surrender to the pain. Or at least, that's what he told himself when his body slumped tiredly against the other. It was becoming a favourite position of his.

He worked his mouth to form words, clearer than before, "I'll be okay, Yama. So let's go, alright?"

"No."

"Huh?"

"No, Tai," Matt repeated, "I don't want to worry about you for every step we take!"

Torn between feeling guilty—again—and feeling angry, Tai opted for the easier emotion, "What do you want me to do, Matt? Say some magic words and make everything disappear?!"

"_No_ Tai," the blond gritted out, clenching his hand into a tight fist to control his own anger, "What I _want_ is for you to show Jyou."

Tai let out an annoyed noise, pushing himself off of Matt to glare properly, "I'm telling you, I'll be—"

"Please."

"—perfectly fi-... wait, what?"

"Please," Matt tried once more, his voice softer than before, "We're all worried about you. At least if Jyou looks at it, we'll _know_ you'll be okay, right? So stop arguing with me."

Biting down on his already abused lower lip, Tai finally nodded, the fire in his eyes dimming, "Alright." With all of the fight drained out of him, his balance was unsteady but instantly Matt's pale arms were holding him up once again.

"Good," Matt stated softly, "because Agumon's already on his way to get him."

A flash of some unknown emotion passed through deep brown eyes, but it went unnoticed. Tai simply sighed and allowed Matt to put him back on the ground. Tucking his legs underneath him despite the spasm of pain it caused, he leaned forward to rest all his weight on his left arm. His right still hung uselessly at his side, numb from the elbow down.

"Just follow me, Jyou!" Agumon's insistent voice called, making Tai turn his head in the direction of the sound.

"Alright! Alright, I'm coming!"

"Don't forget about me!" That was Gomamon's voice; Jyou's reliable digimon partner.

"Matt? Tai? What are you two doing?" Jyou questioned once he reached the seemingly "lazy" pair. Tai remained in his cross-legged position, staring at Agumon, while Matt looked up at Jyou meaningfully.

"...Tai's hurt," Matt finally said after a moment of silent communication.

Jyou's eyes widened slightly as he turned his gaze onto their leader, "Where? When? How?"

The pained brunet let out a sigh, "It happened back in the castle. I guess I got... _stabbed_ or something."

Though Jyou's first reaction was to go into a panic, he quickly reigned in on his emotions and threw them to the side, putting on an impartial mask. He knelt down to be level with his patient and gave him a kind but demanding look.

"Where?" He repeated his question from earlier, this time in a much calmer voice.

"Right shoulder."

"That's it?"

"...Something got me in the side, but it doesn't really hurt all that much."

Jyou nodded, accepting Tai's word for it. Matt blinked once in surprise but otherwise seemed unmoved by the confession. He sat down in front of the wild-haired boy when Jyou stood to get medical supplies.

"See? That wasn't so bad."

Tai just shrugged, not holding his friend's intent gaze. His head was starting to hurt, a completely different kind of ache from his still-throbbing shoulder. He vaguely felt inquisitive fingers adjusting his sleeve, but he ignored it, at least until Jyou's next command.

"Help me take off his shirt, Matt."

"What?!" Two shocked voices called out simultaneously, creating a two-part harmony.

Gomamon and Agumon snickered from the sidelines, earning them a sharp glare from an embarrassed blond. Jyou just repeated his request, seemingly with the utmost patience. It was a stunning change from his usual nervousness. After another moment's hesitation, Matt complied, a bright tinge of pink colouring his normally pale face.

Tai couldn't help but giggle when he saw this, his mind becoming a little fuzzy, "Yama's brighter than a tomato!"

Jyou froze for a second, looking over at Matt to see his reaction and was surprised to see an expression of relief. What was going on? When had everyone gone crazy?

"First Kari, and now you two," he mumbled under his breath, returning to the task at hand.

Matt, meanwhile, was simply glad to see Tai's normally open and exuberant personality coming back, even if it was at his expense. This moment of peace wouldn't last long, however, because as soon as the shirt was off, Tai was shivering uncontrollably.

"When did it get so cold?" he complained, his eyes taking on a glazed look.

Matt and Jyou shared a worried glance before the upcoming doctor gently began his cleansing of the wound. Tai hissed as he felt a cold liquid stinging at his tender shoulder, but made no move to pull away. His mind began to drift, the mixture of hot and cold that was attacking his body too much for the already weakened boy. He barely registered when the stinging in his shoulder was replaced by what felt like a soft cloth. Slowly, his world was fading to a comforting black.

***

"He's definitely running a fever."

"Is it bad?"

Jyou made a contemplative noise, "It isn't too bad right now, but I'm worried about the shoulder wound. Already there is an inflammatory response to foreign cells, a classic sign of wound contamination. More than that, though, is what looks to be the second stages of wound infection, which doesn't make sense if he only got the injury a day ago."

Matt blinked, "Uh... english?"

"The cut on his shoulder is infected and I don't know why it happened so fast."

"Oh. Wait, that's bad!"

Jyou sweatdropped. "Yes, having an infection in the middle of a medicine-free world could be classified as bad."

Nearby, lying down at the foot of his rock, Tai twitched slightly, almost as if he had heard Jyou's comment. Nonetheless, his unconsciousness was far too deep for him to wake so easily. Matt's sweater was draped over him in an effort to stave off the cold that only he could feel, but the shivers still continued.

"So what do we do?" Matt finally asked softly, his eyes focused solely on the sleeping brunet.

Jyou tugged at his already matted hair, "I don't know! It's not like we can just go 'poof' and make medicine appear! I've never studied '101 Ways to Cure Fever in a Digital World'! Have you seen any courses on that? No? I didn't think so! What on earth am I even talking about?!" His voice was a strangled cry of annoyance and desperation and it silenced Matt entirely.

He stood stock still, frozen apart from his pulse racing with the fear of losing Tai. He didn't fully understand the situation—was he that terribly sick?—but still he couldn't help but be overcome by worry. It didn't make any sense to him; when did he start caring so much about the loud, cocky, argumentative boy? All they ever did was fight, up until now.

_I can't fight with him when he's sick_, Matt tried to tell himself, failing miserably. He knew it was a lie. He had never liked fighting with him in the first place, but it was always easier to be angry than show any other emotion. No, in truth, Matt just couldn't stand to see the brunet in so much pain. He was so still. So cold. It didn't suit his bright personality one bit.

"—att? Matt?! Yamato!!"

"Huh?" Jyou's sharp voice, coupled with the use of his full name, brought Matt out of his dazed stupor, reminding him that there were things to be done.

"I asked if you would keep an eye on him while I talked to the others," Jyou repeated, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Oh, sure. But... I don't think he wants the others to know."

"Wha-? Why not? What's wrong with—ohhh. Right. I guess I can just talk to the digimon. But if they can't help—" Jyou let the warning hang, knowing that Matt had already decided the same thing. With a final shared look, the two went their separate ways; Jyou towards the digimon and Matt towards Tai.

Before he had even reached the shivering boy, Matt found himself faced with a panicking dinosaur digimon.

"Is he gonna be alright, Matt? Did Jyou say he'll be fine?"

The blond didn't know how to answer, so he said nothing—the future was too uncertain for him to be tempting fate already. As he once more sat in front of Tai, a familiar urge to protect swept over him; the same he always felt around his younger brother.

_Weird_, he thought to himself, shaking his head to clear it of its confusing thoughts.

"Matt?" Agumon whispered worriedly, still expecting an answer.

For a moment, the blond hesitated. Then fire flashed through his now-determined blue eyes, "Tai will be fine. We'll make sure of it." The digimon nodded in understanding, returning to his curled up position at Tai's side. Matt settled down, as comfortable as possible, and persistently watched the rise and fall of the brunet's chest. It would be a long day.


	3. Dreams Against Reality

Words: 4,589

Notes: Here's chapter three! I actually had a lot of fun writing this chapter, so I hope it's just as fun to read! As always, reviews are greatly appreciated~! I try to respond to all (if signed), but I'm sorry if I'm a little slow at it -_-u

*

**Chapter Three: Dreams Against Reality**

"Did you see Matt and Tai?"

"You mean over by that big boulder?"

"Yeah, they're just... sitting there."

"..."

"And Tai's not even sitting. It looks like he's sleeping."

"Maybe he had a hard night..."

The two older girls of the group let their anxious gazes fall on the unusual scene. Their voices were low, but the concern was obvious. Though seeing Tai lazing around was normal in itself, Matt hovering over him like a mother hen was not. Not to mention they had seen Matt talking to Jyou some time earlier.

Mimi sighed, "Yeah, maybe."

"You're worried about Tai too?" Koushiro asked, overhearing the girls' conversation. In all truth, he was terrified. Tai was probably his best friend in the whole world, and he had _never_ seen him like that. Both of the girls nodded, and the three of them fell silent.

Watching from a distance, Kari shivered. A mix of fear and determination kept her routed, unable to move. She knew what she needed to do, for her brother's sake, but she didn't want to do it. She didn't like giving orders to people at all, but if Tai needed some time alone...

She took a deep breath and walked towards the group, "Tai needs to sleep. So we need to leave him alone."

As she expected, anger erupted in Sora's eyes, "I can't just leave him alone when he's like that!"

"Please," Kari begged, her honey brown eyes glistening with unshed tears.

Seeing this, Sora's anger melted, and she sighed, "Sure. Whatever. Let's just set up camp."

Kari smiled gratefully and ran, letting the tension in her leave. She never wanted the others to be mad at her. _Ever_. Her legs were still shaky, but she kept moving, heading over to where she knew her Gatomon would be waiting patiently. Jyou was there as well, still getting as much information out of the digimon as he could. He spared a single glance for Kari as she scooped up her feline digimon before returning to his work.

***

(Hours later)

For the seventeenth time, Matt shifted, trying to keep his body from falling asleep. He had not moved from his constant vigilance over the wild-haired boy, no matter how much his body yearned to. At times, it was worth it, particularly when the fevered boy would start twisting in the throes of a nightmare. That was why Matt stayed; to keep him from getting sicker.

_To protect him_, his subconscious whispered, but Matt ignored it.

A small, pained sound brought him far away from his thoughts, and instantly Matt's hands were moving. Just as he'd done too many times that afternoon. One hand was buried in soft brown hair, having quickly found out that it calmed the other down the fastest. The other hand adjusted the now warm cloth on his forehead. Agumon jerked awake, a sense of dread overcoming him.

"Something's wrong," he whispered, his voice fearful.

"Just another nightmare."

But Agumon shook his head insistently, "No, something else!" He quickly jumped up to look over his partner, searching for the answer in his not-so-peaceful face. _Anguish_. That was the most evident, made all the more obvious when another moan slipped through clenched teeth. His partner was suffering.

"Tai?" Matt said softly, not sure what to expect.

Slowly, chocolate brown eyes slid open, still glazed over from fever and pain. They seemed to look through the blond, unseeing. For some reason, this made Matt's heart wrench, but he put the feeling aside to focus on the real problem.

"Tai? Can you hear me?"

The brunet's gaze didn't move, "Why are they fighting?"

Matt froze, "Huh?"

"If they keep going, they might hurt Kari."

"Tai?"

"She's already sick. I don't want her to die. I don't want to kill her."

Matt and Agumon looked at each other, neither understanding what the fevered boy was talking about. Their attention returned to Tai as soon as he opened his mouth once more.

"If they don't stop, I'll make them." There was determination in his weak voice. "I won't let them hurt Kari... because I hurt her already." A single tear slid down the tanned cheeks. "They're still too close. I can't save everyone."

"What are you seeing?" Matt asked himself, eyes wide at the pain he heard in the other's voice.

Suddenly, something indistinguishable flashed through brown eyes before they unexplainably cleared. The pain was still there, but it seemed like Tai had returned to reality. Matt held his breath as those expressive eyes locked with his, and breathed a silent sigh of relief when Tai smiled weakly.

"Hey Yama. What's going on?" His voice was shaky, but it was still a start. Hesitantly, Matt pressed the back of his hand against Tai's forehead.

Instantly, he yanked it back.

"Yama?"

"Y-you're burning up, Tai." _Worse than before_.

Brown eyebrows drew together in confusion, "I don't feel hot."

Matt shook his head, getting more panicked by the second. "I'm serious, Tai. We have to get you help."

Tai shuddered, closing his eyes briefly, "Yeah, I know." His voice was no more than a whisper, but the admittance was clear.

For a moment, silence reigned, as both tried to collect their thoughts. Agumon had already bolted in search of Jyou, giving the others a few minutes of privacy. Though he was an inexperienced digimon in many ways, Agumon could easily recognise the bond between the two boys growing. He knew that Tai would open up to no one else by this point. He only hoped Matt would realise this too.

A shiver caused Tai to curl into himself a little more, bringing Matt out of his own silence, "Are you cold?" It was an obvious question, but he wanted the other to answer nonetheless.

"Y-yeah. But I can handle it."

"So do you want me to leave you alone?" Matt asked, figuring the other wanted to play it tough. He didn't know if he would actually listen or not, but he had no time to ponder it because Tai had instantly grabbed onto his shirt. Startled, Matt looked into the other's fear-filled eyes.

"Please, Yamato." The plea was nearly completely silent, but deadly serious. Though he didn't directly answer the question, the message was easily understood.

There was no possible way that Matt could leave now.

He sighed softly, "I don't mind staying, but you have to talk to me."

"Talk...?"

"Quit pretending you're fine."

"Oh."

An awkward silence fell between them during which neither could look the other in the eye. As if on cue, a jolt of sheer, sudden pain sent Tai curling into himself, biting down on his bottom lip hard. Matt could only watch anxiously, still running his hand through chocolate locks. There was nothing he could do; no medicine, no pain relievers, nothing. He hated it!

"What's wrong with him?" Jyou's concerned voice was suddenly right beside him.

Matt looked up fearfully, "I don't know! I think it just hurts."

Jyou nodded in understanding before kneeling next to Tai, "Hey, can you hear me?"

Barely conscious, Tai nodded minutely, not willing to open his mouth and risk screaming. Or throwing up, whichever came first.

"Good, that's a start. Is it your shoulder that hurts?"

Another tiny nod.

"Anywhere else?"

This time, Tai did moan, a small sound that indicated his lack of interest in stupid questions. He didn't want to play a guessing game, he just wanted it to go away! Was that really too much to ask? Apparently yes, considering an entirely new wave of pain crashed through him. As he felt the blissful darkness coming to meet him, he tightened his hold on Matt's shirt, the only reassurance that he wasn't alone.

"He's fading," Jyou said softly, not mentioning Tai's desperate grip.

"So what do we do?!" Matt looked panicked, but intelligently refrained from running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Jyou stood up, "We keep him warm and we talk to the others. The digimon didn't know anything more than we do."

Without further ado, the doctor-to-be went off in search of sleeping bags, leaving Matt to look worriedly down at the now unconscious boy. Without thinking, his free hand gently pried one of Tai's off, loosely entwining their fingers in a comforting hold.

It suddenly seemed like there was so much he wanted to say to the other, so much he wanted to do. An apology, for starters; he wanted to say sorry for all the petty arguments and full-out fighting. He wanted to tell the other how much their friendship meant to him, and maybe even how much he's enjoyed being needed by Tai, despite the desperate circumstances. He wanted to put everything out in the open, have no secrets, truly be the best of friends.

He wanted so much, but there was no time!

_Cut it out_, he chided himself nervously, _it's not like he's dying_.

His hand involuntarily tightened on the other's, "Don't you dare leave me, you goggle-headed idiot!"

A tiny, hardly noticeable smile graced the wild-haired boy's lips.

***

_Tai found himself sitting on the edge of a building, looking down onto a park._

_There, two children danced among the golden leaves of autumn. One was younger, her hair cropped short and a whistle hung around her neck. She seemed to be absolutely delighted to be rolling around in dirty, dead leaves._

Kari_, Tai's subconscious provided, and he felt the corners of his mouth lift up in a gentle smile._

"_She always did love fall."_

_His gaze fell onto the other child, easily picking out his immaculate blond hair as he leaned against a tree. Tai didn't question how he could see the boy's blue eyes from so far away, he just went along with the situation. He wanted to go down and play with the two people who meant the most to him, but seeing as he was twenty feet above—_

_Suddenly, he found himself right in front of the leaf pile that his younger sister was jumping into. Like before, his mind just accepted this as if it were an everyday occurrence._

"_Hey Tai," the blond's voice made his smile grow even bigger._

"_Hey Yama! Hey Kari!"_

"_Want to come play with me, big brother?" Kari asked, her voice muffled by the leaves surrounded her._

_Tai didn't really feel like jumping—for some odd reason, he thought his shoulder would protest—but he would do anything for his little sister. Without another moment's hesitation, he jumped, the sound of Kari's bright laughter ringing in his ears._

_But the leaves didn't break his fall. He just kept going, down through the earth as if there had been a giant hole there. No, as if his body could simply phase through things. He didn't want to keep falling, though! He wanted to stay with Matt and Kari!_

_As if the world actually listened to him, Tai found himself landing, not even stumbling from the transition. In front of him was a pool, crystal clear water filling it. Not a single ripple ran through it until Tai gently prodded it with his finger. He thought he could feel the liquid, but when he pulled his hand back, it was completely dry._

"_Weird," he said aloud, "Must be, like, fast drying water or something."_

_Shrugging off the odd thought, Tai looked into the water. An image was reflected back to him, as if he were looking through the pond to something below. It was like he had never left his spot on the building long before, because he was once again watching Kari and Matt playing in the autumn leaves._

_Except this time, something was different. This time, there was another participant. A strange-haired boy was simply standing in front of them, his back to Tai. An odd shadow creature seemed to be resting on his right shoulder, seemingly unnoticed by the boy and Tai's friends._

"_I don't remember seeing that boy... though his hair is so cool! The way it completely defies... gravity..."_

_Everything suddenly made sense; he was watching himself. Or, he was watching a recording, maybe... but where had that shadow come from?_

_Tai watched curiously as "pool-self" looked about to jump, just as he knew would happen. The shadow on his shoulder seemed to grow, finger-like appendages snaking their way down his body. Tai shivered at the thought, as if the shadow was on _his_ shoulder, as opposed to "pool-self"._

"_Pool-self" disappeared into the leaves, and though Tai could hear nothing of the scene, he knew Kari was laughing. A strange thought occurred to the wild-haired boy at that moment._

"_If I came here after I jumped, will the pool-me come here too?"_

_But something was rising from the leaves. Something completely black. Something... shadow-like. It took the form of a wild-haired boy and seemingly replaced him. Kari hugged it, in thanks perhaps, and Matt gave it a soft smile._

"_Wait a minute! Can't they tell that's not me?"_

_But things kept going like normal, the shadow fitting right in. Desperately, Tai punched the water, trying to change the reality he was seeing. As he half expected, it didn't work. The shadow-self looked up, directly into Tai's eyes before a creepy smirk appeared on its face._

"_What are you thinking..." Tai murmured to himself, suddenly worried._

_The shadow-self reached out to help Kari up, its hand gripping too tightly. Tai saw his younger sister's face contort in pain, and his own brown eyes widened fearfully._

"_Don't hurt her!" He pounded uselessly on the water again, not even marvelling at how it didn't splash him. Frantically, he jumped into the pool, hoping to fall through to reach his stupid shadow-self and beat some sense into it._

I won't let a shadow control me_, he thought to himself determinedly before the entire world faded to black and pain engulfed him._

***

As his mind slowly fought through the haze of pain and fever, the world started coming into focus. It all happened in progressive phases; first, his hearing began to work, registering a voice with a worried tone in it. Then his body started to register feelings _other_ than pain, like the gentle hand in his hair and a heavy weight on his chest. His sight came back next, as he opened his eyes and tried to make shapes and figures out of blurry images.

Eventually, his mind clicked into action, and what was once just a voice became coherent words.

"Tai? Tai?! Are you even listening to me?"

Tai blinked, trying to focus on the dinosaur digimon that was practically sitting on his face. He wanted to tell his partner to move, or at least go on a diet, but no matter how hard he tried, Tai simply couldn't force his throat to form a sound. It was as if his entire body was frozen, but his senses were not.

Finally, Agumon moved, shifting his weight off of his injured friend when he got no reply. Tai tried to smile, but nothing happened. He tried to reach out and comfort the worried digimon, but his arm didn't move. It was very frustrating.

"Why won't he answer, Matt?"

Warmth engulfed his hand as he felt something tightening around it. Though he couldn't move his head, Tai was able to see the pale hand through his peripheral vision. Just the thought made a pleasant feeling run through his entire body, which he happily focused on instead of the pain. Shifting his gaze—the only thing that was apparently not frozen—to the human figure leaning over him, he saw an angel.

"Tai?"

Well, not in the literal sense. It didn't have big, feathery wings or anything, but it was still the most beautiful person he had ever seen. Perfectly styled blond hair, pale skin that seemed to glisten in the sunlight, intense blue eyes...

"Tai? Are you with me?"

And the voice! So familiar and warm, with a deep tone of worry... wait, why was the angel worried? An angel should be happy and free of problems, not concerned just because some boy was sick.

"We're going to force-feed you if you don't snap out of it!" The angel threatened.

_Hey! I'm not a baby_, Tai wanted to protest. Why wasn't Agumon standing up for him?

The angel sighed, "It's not working. I don't know what's wrong."

"Do you think we should call for Jyou?"

_No! There's no point! I'm fine!_ Still, Tai could say nothing. He was almost ready to just give up, when the angel seemingly read his mind.

"I don't think so. It doesn't seem like he's getting worse, really. Just... spaced out."

If he could move, Tai would've hugged the angel endlessly. However, he had already established that he couldn't move whatsoever, and it was really beginning to frustrate him. He didn't want to watch from the sidelines!

His attention turned to his partner when he heard Agumon say, "I'll go tell everyone what's going on, then."

"You're a life-saver, Agumon."

"I know," the dinosaur grinned, "I am the great Tai's partner, after all." The joke was a desperate attempt at passing everything off as fine, Tai could tell, but he was proud of his digimon for being so strong nonetheless, especially when it brought a laugh out of the angel.

"Whatever you say, oh great one," the angel mocked.

Agumon shifted on his feet for a moment before he sighed, "Yeah. Just make sure you eat something, Matt." And then he was gone, running out of Tai's limited vision, though the wild-haired boy's attention had already moved on to something much more important; the angel's name.

It was like all of the built up stress and guilt just washed away and not even the pain could dampen his happiness. Why? What was so great about finding out the angel wasn't really a messenger from God, but actually your best friend? In fact, shouldn't he be scolding himself for thinking of him as beautiful?

_No,_ Tai told himself firmly, _I won't be mad at myself anymore. It only makes people worry._

This small admission suddenly made him feel a whole lot lighter, like the invisible force holding him down had lifted. On a whim, he tried to move his left arm; the one currently attached to a pale blond's hand.

Nothing happened.

His body remained frozen, even as his watched a single tear run down his best friend's cheek. Even as he saw the pain and worry in those passionate blue eyes. Even as his own heart ached in response to the other's pain.

"I'm not giving up on you, Tai. I know you're in there somewhere," his angel whispered determinedly.

Because ultimately, that's what Matt was; not heaven's angel, but Tai's, and he hated to see his angel in pain. His thoughts suddenly turned to the strange but very realistic dream he had endured not too long ago. Already, the once vivid images were only a blur of feelings and thoughts. There was only one emotion that remained strikingly clear; the fear of being controlled.

It was this mix of trepidation and pain that once more swallowed Tai whole.

***

"Matt! If you don't tell us what's wrong with Tai, then we'll... we'll..."

"Sick our digimon on you!"

"Yeah! Wait, what?"

Matt had known that it couldn't be long before the group started asking questions. He had almost expected to be cornered, though not particularly by Koushiro and Mimi. He figured it would be Sora. Regardless, here he was, taking a break from "Tai-sitting" to go to the bathroom only to find himself up against concerned friends. He was beginning to think he never should've listened to his body.

"Matt?" Mimi's voice tore him from his thoughts, effectively bringing reality crashing down.

Graceful as ever, Matt replied with a simple, emotionless "huh?"

"MATT!" Mini whined loudly, "You're not supposed to ignore me!"

"Yeah! Especially when Tai's life could be on the line!"

Instantly, the blond fixed Koushiro with a glare made to freeze fire, "Tai will _not_ die, alright? So quit asking me stupid questions!"

Koushiro returned the glare instantly, his voice entirely serious, "They're not stupid questions! All we want to know is what's wrong with Tai and why you won't let us see him!"

The tension rose dramatically between the two digidestined, almost becoming tangible. It was a face-off for the right to watch over their natural-born leader, even if they didn't know it. Mimi could only watch from the sidelines, eyes wide at the taste of conflict in the air.

Matt was about to retaliate to the smaller boy's comment, when the truth become painfully obvious to him; _I won't let anyone else near him because I want to keep him for myself._ Realising this, guilt washed over him. What ever gave him the right to claim Tai as his own? After all the fighting and all the pointless arguments?

Averting his gaze, Matt let out a mumbled "Just ask Jyou" before leaving to finish his business and think things through.

But, as fate would have it, nothing was on his side, because he had barely been gone for two minutes when Sora caught up to him. She had a concerned light in her eyes and instantly, Matt was on the defensive, expecting another round of questioning about Tai.

"Have you eaten anything yet, Yamato?"

_Huh?_ Confused, Matt didn't answer, leaving Sora to guess on her own intelligence.

She grinned sadly, "Of course you haven't. Who am I kidding? You're too worried about him, right?"

Still, Matt couldn't form a coherent sentence. His mind was in the process of decoding the girl's message and trying to make sense of it.

"It's funny, Yamato, but I think I can understand exactly why you won't let us take care of Tai too," she continued, no longer waiting for a response, "I think it must have something to do with being a woman. Or maybe my crest. But it doesn't matter, does it? A fact is a fact regardless of where one gets it from."

Finally, Matt got his voice to work, "That was very philosophical." Unfortunately, he completely ignored the important parts of Sora's small monologue.

Sora simply laughed, "Thank you for pointing that out. Now will you listen to me?"

"Whatever."

"I'll take that as a yes," she mumbled with an affectionate roll of the eyes, "Right now, you don't want other people to go near Tai because it makes you irrationally jealous, correct?"

"What?! That's not it at all!" Matt resisted, wide-eyed.

"And you don't want to leave his side because something could happen to him."

"No!"

"You want to shield him from everything even though you know he doesn't need protecting."

"No..."

"And you won't admit it to yourself because you're afraid."

"..."

"Don't you get it, Yamato? It's not some forbidden emotion!"

"Shut up!" Matt suddenly snapped, her words hitting too close to home, "What do you know about it? What makes you so smart? What—"

Sora snorted humourlessly, interrupting him, "The Crest of Love, remember? I know all of this because... it's sorta true for me too."

"Oh... wait, you love Tai?!" Matt exclaimed, shaken.

Again, Sora rolled her eyes, "Not Tai, you jealous idiot. Just... someone."

Without realising it, Matt let out a sigh of relief, "Right. Of course. I hope you and... this person get together someday, then."

The girl's eyes softened, a sad thought running through her mind; _No, Matt. The person I want is unattainable. He's already in love with someone else, even if he doesn't admit it._

Outwardly, she just smiled. "Maybe someday. But first, _you_ have a person to watch over, ne?"

Without even waiting for an answer, the ginger-haired girl walked away. Stunned, Matt could only watch her leave, suddenly filled with a sense of security in knowing that he had a friend he could go to whenever he needed. Shaking his head to clear it, Matt finished what he originally intended to do and made his way back to where he could shamelessly watch over his newly realised crush.

***

_Tai was a social person through and through. He constantly strove for attention and companionship. People seemed drawn to him, maybe attracted by his general compassion for everyone. He didn't really give it much thought, he just enjoyed the company. In fact, he needed it._

_So being stuck alone in the middle of a grey, barren wasteland was like a death sentence to him._

"_Uh, guys?" He could barely recognise his own voice in the silence of nothingness. It sounded so loud, and yet so hollow._

_All around him was his mind's representation of isolation, though he couldn't have known that. To him, it was just rocks and stripped trees on a flat surface. No life, no colour. Even the leaf-less trees were an odd shade of grey. He didn't even wonder how they came to be that way, he just continued to look around._

"_Is anyone out here?" He continued to call out, once more trying to fill the silence._

_Not even the wind answered him._

_His attention shifted upward, suddenly curious about why the sun wasn't doing its job. An inky black cloud hovered above him, dousing the world in shadows that Tai just realised were there. The only variance in the sky was a soccer ball, pressed up against the cloud like a helium balloon would be to the ceiling._

"_Maybe if I can reach it, the sky will open up for me," Tai mused, his logic flawless in his opinion. There was no questioning towards how a soccer ball was hanging from the sky, no doubt that he could reach such an unreachable height. Everything just _was_._

_And so he put all his energy into his legs and forced himself into the air, his arm stretched to touch the ball. But it seemed like the entire sky moved away from him._

_As he landed back on the rocky ground, he made a shaky, contemplative noise. The emptiness was beginning to get to him, and he was doing everything in his power to avoid it. Maybe that was the real reason he would do something so ludicrous as trying to touch the sky._

"_Stupid soccer ball," he finally muttered to himself._

_Suddenly, the ball began to fall, its descent happening in slow motion. Tai watched it with wide eyes, noticing every spin it made in the air, every wisp of air that it pushed through. Unconsciously, he took a step towards it, his sight never faltering. Then another. And another. But the ball kept falling farther away, as if some unfelt wind was pushing it forward._

_Tai followed it, steadily breaking into a run. It was his only company._


	4. You Can't Hide Anymore

Words: 3,624

Notes: ...*looks at chapter title* I feel like I'm writing a stalker fic... (I should try that sometime ^^).

Where we left off: _Matt's finally looking at his feelings for Tai in a new light, but their leader is still stuck in his nightmarish dreams. The others are worried--they have no idea about what's going on..._

*

**You Can't Hide Anymore**

"Jyou! He won't wake up!"

"I can see that!" Jyou replied harshly, unable to keep his worry in check. Beside him, Matt instantly clamped his mouth shut, silenced.

Around them, the other digidestined watched fearfully. It had been agreed that not too many people could be right next to Tai—for his health, Jyou insisted—but the whole group was never far. They sat clustered together, each thinking their own panicked thoughts and supporting each other. Their leader had fallen.

Jyou, meanwhile, was trying to wake Tai up so as to give him much-needed food and water. Already, he had refused to swallow anything in unconsciousness. It was quickly becoming obvious that this was a serious situation, more so than any of them had expected.

"Okay, let's try that herb again," Jyou said calmly, referring to a plant the digimon had pointed out as being energising.

Matt handed the requested herb over without looking, all attention focused on the one who's hand was fiercely entwined with his own. Still, all he could do was have faith in Tai's ability to fight anything. All he could do was wait.

***

_The soccer ball continued to bounce, leading Tai through the grey wasteland. Steadily, the world around him was growing darker, the black cloud growing. But he ignored it, trying to catch the ball in hopes of returning everything to normal._

_Suddenly, the cloud fell, engulfing the world—and Tai—in shadows. No, if it were shadows, then that would mean there had to be light somewhere. There was no light in this new environment._

_Tai froze, unable to see anything other than black. He couldn't see his hands, or even know where they were because he couldn't feel them anymore. It was like he'd lost his body and drifted into a black hole. The thought sent a shiver down his back._

_Then a pinpoint of light appeared in front of him, blindingly bright compared to the darkness. Tai didn't know if he was moving toward it, or if it was coming to him, but regardless, the light grew. Soon it was the size of a CD, and if Tai looked hard enough, he could see a faint image inside it._

_The image suddenly exploded, covering the cloud and everything else. At the sudden change Tai clenched his eyes shut, blocking out the too bright lights. Still, he felt nothing, like he didn't have a body. Thinking that everything must still be black, he opened his eyes once more, and froze._

_He was watching himself again._

_There his body lay, completely motionless, surrounded by the people he cared about. Matt was holding his body's hand, Jyou was trying to wake it up, and the others all sat off to the side, watching._

"_Jyou! He won't wake up!" Matt's voice seemed muffled, like a giant blanket covered him. Tai figured it was because he was just a floating... something._

"_I can see that!" Tai's theory was proved; Jyou's voice was also different. "Okay, let's try that herb again."_

_Tai watched curiously as Matt handed over a strange red plant, which Jyou crushed up and held near the motionless body. Somehow, Tai couldn't think of it as his own. Whatever Jyou wanted to happen obviously wasn't, because his hands clenched and he threw the plant to the side._

Don't worry, guys,_ Tai wanted to say, but nothing came out. Without a body, he couldn't even take out his frustration on anything._

_Then something caught his attention. A large, shadowy creature stood at the edge of the scene, just beyond his friends. It had no definite form, but seemed like a mix of nightmarish creatures, always shifting form. It was something Tai had only ever imagined. The creature seemed to be looking right at him, as if the two of them were the only ones there._

What are you?_ Tai thought to himself, staring at the creature._

_~It's time to go to sleep~ a whisper told him, echoing in his mind alone._

What?

_~It's time to stop fighting~ the same whisper answered. Somehow, Tai simply knew that it was the shadow talking to him._

Stop fighting what?_ Tai asked, once more in his mind._

_~Stop fighting me. It will make everything much better for you. The pain will leave.~_

Pain?_ Tai suddenly felt all of the pain from the real world rushing into him, causing his mind to forget everything. He couldn't wonder why he could feel such _physical_ pain when he didn't have a body, or why the pain was real but he still couldn't scream. All he could do was endure it._

_~Stop fighting and the pain will leave~_

_As soon as his mind recognised those words, Tai realised the situation. He understood that this creature was the source of his pain, but more-so, he understood that he couldn't let the shadow have its control._

I won't stop fighting! _He thought fiercely, his mind-voice full of determination despite the unbearable pain._

_The whisper-voice laughed, and the pain increased._

_~I can already control parts of you. You're too far gone to win~ To prove his words, the shadow began walking forward, blocking Tai's pain long enough for him to focus on the scene._

_Panting and shaking inwardly, Tai watched, trying to move but realising it wouldn't help. The shadow stood menacingly over his body, not at all noticeable to the people around it. Slowly, it reached an "arm" down, covering Tai's right hand and sinking in._

_The body's hand twitched._

"_Hey!" Agumon's muffled voice called, "I think he just moved!"_

_The hand slowly closed into a fist, catching everyone's attention._

"_Tai?" Matt called hesitantly._

No! That's not me! _Tai thought desperately, trying harder to reach the shadow but getting nowhere. It was covering more and more of Tai's prone body, seeping in. Tai watched, horrified, as his body opened its eyes without him._

"_Tai! You're awake! Thank goodness," Matt's voice was so sincere that it sent a jolt of pain through Tai; he didn't want to hear such kindness directed at a shadow! Regardless, his body nodded in answer._

_Jyou smiled with relief, "Are you in terrible pain?" The body shook its head. "That's good, we were all worried about you." When the body didn't answer, Tai realised what the shadow meant by saying he could only control parts—voice wasn't one of them._

_The body lifted the hand currently held in Matt's. Tai watched with wide eyes as his body smirked and tightened its grip. Suddenly, Tai remembered the dream from before, when a shadow took his place and hurt his sister._

No..._ Tai thought fearfully, seeing his body's hand clenching even further._

_Matt winced, "Tai, that hurts!"_

_The body's smirk widened. Its grip kept getting stronger, until Tai could actually _hear_ the bones in Matt's hand shifting._

Stop it! Let go! _Tai screamed in his mind, trying to focus entirely on waking up to stop the shadow. He heard a bone crack and suddenly, his own scream was in perfect harmony with Matt's. His world once more exploded._

***

Jyou watched, horrified, as Tai broke Matt's hand with a smirk on his face. He was frozen in place as Matt bit down on his lip to stifle the scream he had involuntarily let out. Then chaos erupted as Tai's body convulsed, the smirk disappearing instantly.

Kari was sobbing hysterically, frightened nearly to the point of fainting. She had never seen her brother hurt someone like that, and she definitely didn't want to see him thrashing around like he was about to die. Even Sora had silent tears streaking down her face while the others were frozen in shock.

The worst, though, was when Tai screamed.

Matt didn't know what to do. Tai had already let go of his now-broken hand, but he was almost afraid of touching the other. Especially after he had seen the malice in his best friend's face, the happiness at causing pain. The complete opposite to what he was like now.

Realising this, Matt steeled his determination and forced the pain as far away as possible. Using his left—unbroken—hand, he once more grabbed the other's hand, ignoring the fear of recurrence.

"Hey, it's okay," Matt whispered soothingly, squeezing his hand gently, "It'll pass. We're all here for you." His voice was soft, but still frightened. He didn't know what he was doing, he just knew he wanted Tai to calm down.

Amazingly, Tai began to do just that. The entire group watched, stunned, as their leader quieted under Matt's touch. Tears rolled down his tanned cheek, but he forced he body to be still, forced the shadow away.

"Yama?" He finally spoke, his question barely heard.

"Hey Tai."

The tears fell faster, "I'm sorry, Yama. I'm sorry! I couldn't stop him! Not in time! I'm sorry!" Even though his voice was frantic and desperate, it was still hardly above a whisper, as if it couldn't make any more sound than that.

Matt was, needless to say, confused. Regardless, he tightened his own grip and smiled gently, "It doesn't matter. I'm fine."

Tai shook his head insistently, refusing to believe the lie. He was about protest when a small body nearly pounced on him, sobbing.

Gasping from the weight and added pain, Tai did everything in his power to try and move his right arm, eventually managing to drape it across his sister's body. She continued to cry, letting out everything and Tai just let her, pain or no pain.

Jyou coughed awkwardly and turned to the group, "I think we should, uh, fetch some firewood or something. You know, for the fever."

Koushiro nodded, "Yes, firewood is a good idea."

The rest of the group easily agreed, leaving the area for the sake of their friends' privacy as well as to think over what had just happened.

"Send Agumon when I can check on Tai," Jyou called over his shoulder.

Silence fell over the remaining four, broken only by Kari's heavy sobbing.

After a few awkward moments, Matt finally asked the question that had been bothering him, "What's going on, Tai?"

So Tai told him everything.

***

"It must have been from one of the weapons."

"Yeah, like a poison or something."

"A poison that makes shadow-people?"

"No... that's not right..."

"A poison that controls people."

A gasp. "You don't think that Tai's gonna lose his body do you?!"

"No way! Tai's stronger than that!"

"But look at how much pain he's been in..."

"That's it!" Koushiro suddenly exclaimed, "That's what the poison does! It weakens the person so that it can control them!"

Everyone's eyes widened in understanding, even TK's, who had been sitting silently since all of this started to happen. Agumon had told everyone what he had learned from Tai, also sending Jyou back. Mimi, Sora and Koushiro had been discussing the subject since then, while TK sat on the sidelines and listened.

He was frightened with the whole situation, and angry at what happened to his brother. Deep down he didn't really blame Tai, but hearing his brother's pain-filled scream had triggered a need to justify everything. Now, with everyone worrying over Tai and forgetting about what he had done, TK was furious. It wasn't fair in his opinion. But the others ignored him, not even looking for his opinions because he was _too young_.

With these bitter thoughts in mind, TK silently slipped away from the group, heading towards his brother subconsciously. His steps were laden with anger, with loneliness. But as soon as his brother—and Tai—came into view, he froze.

Jyou had already tended to Matt's hand, and moved on to checking over Tai. Kari was seemingly asleep, curled up at her older brother side, and Matt's face was lined with worry.

_I don't understand,_ TK thought, a sudden well of tears building up, _why does he care so much? Didn't Tai hurt him? Why is he paying more attention to him than me?_

Feeling left out and alone, TK tried very hard not to cry. This was made difficult when Jyou moved away from Tai with a sigh and Matt was instantly at the wild-haired boy's side.

"What do we do, Jyou? What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know. The best we can do is fight the fever but..." The doctor-to-be looked down dejectedly.

A weak laugh caught TK's attention, "Don't worry about it, guys. It's better than before."

Silence fell over everyone as Tai's encouragement sunk in because they all knew it wasn't true. Still, their leader wouldn't let them think about it if he could help it. TK was torn between admiring Tai for that and still being angry.

"You guys have to go get something to eat," Tai pointed out, his voice so soft that TK barely heard it.

Of course, Jyou and Matt protested, but with a single pointed look, Tai shut them up, "Now, before you wake up Kari, or I swear I'll get up and find you food myself."

"But we can't just leave you alone, Tai!"

A sudden urge pushed TK to step forward, "I'll watch him. I already ate."

The gratefulness in Matt's eyes sent a pang of sadness through his younger brother, "Thanks, Teeks. I'll be back as soon as I can." TK nodded and watched the two digidestined leave, returning his attention back to Tai.

For a moment, neither spoke, each searching the other's eyes for some unknown clue to what they were thinking. TK involuntarily looked over his leader, noticing the constant shivers and laboured breathing. The young boy had always hated to see people in pain, and this case was no different.

_No! I don't want to have sympathy for him!!_

Trying to hold onto his anger, TK made to yell at Tai for hurting his brother.

"Can I do anything to help?" To his dismay, his own mouth betrayed him by saying something completely different.

Tai sighed, "I'm fine. I don't deser—I don't need help."

Being a very perceptive young boy, TK had easily picked up Tai's true feelings, and suddenly he didn't want to yell at the other. His anger faded completely, the innocence of a child once more coming to the front.

"Why wouldn't you deserve help?"

"..." Brown eyes looked anywhere but into TK's.

"Tai?"

"I hurt him, that's why." They both knew who he was talking about.

Earlier, TK would have used this chance to get his revenge on Tai for taking away his brother's attention, but now all he wanted to do was help. Accepting this, TK put on a bright smile.

"But didn't you say a shadow-thing was controlling you?"

For a moment, Tai was silent, then: "I should've stopped it sooner."

"Maybe you couldn't!"

"Maybe... why don't you hate me, TK?"

The young boy shrugged, "I guess it's not your fault, so I can't hate you."

Tai closed his eyes, smiling, "But you did, right? You should. Everyone should. If it gets control of me..." And the smile faded, the shaking increasing, "If it takes over me, someone has to get rid of me. Anyone."

"NO!" TK suddenly yelled, surprising himself, "It won't control you! We won't let it!"

Tai laughed, even as tears crept through his closed eyes, "You're right! It won't win." But even TK knew that the only reason the other said this was to keep everyone else's hope up.

A noise caught both boys attention, and they looked up to see Matt returning with a plate of light foods. With one last meaningful look sent to Tai, TK left, heading back to the other group. He had an idea, now all he had to do was make the others listen.

As he expected, they were still trying futilely to figure out what the cause was. They had agreed on a poisoned weapon that weakens the host, but they didn't know what kind of poison or what the end results would be.

"What if it's not meant to control people? Maybe it's just meant to make them attack their friends."

"I hope not."

"I still think it's about control, or else why would Tai say there was a shadow-creature?"

"Oh, yeah."

TK shook his head; hadn't they already went through all this? Clearing his throat, the boy tried to get the other's attention, "Hey guys?"

"But what if the shadow-creature is trying to trick us?"

"Guys?"

"It doesn't matter, it still proves there's a shadow."

"Guys!!"

"What? Can't you see we're busy TK?" Mimi stated with annoyance.

Nearly growling, TK ignored her comment, "I have an idea."

Sora perked up, kneeling down to get level with TK, "What is it?" In her opinion, anything would help by that point.

"I think we should find the antidote."

Koushiro sighed, "We've been trying, but we don't even know—"

"No," TK said exasperatedly, shaking his head, "I mean we should actually _find_ one. It happened at the castle, right? So they probably have the cure!"

A proverbial lightbulb suddenly went off over everyone's head.

"Of course!"

Koushiro was practically bouncing up and down, "Then even if there isn't an antidote, they've got to have more poison, right? We can make one! Why didn't we think of this before?"

"Because we didn't ask TK," Sora smiled, ruffling the younger boy's hair. TK just smiled brightly. It felt a lot better to be part of the solution than to be angry at the problem.

The group's discussion finally turned to something productive.

***

"Yama," Tai groaned, "There's no point, I can't keep it down."

Sighing, Matt put the plate of food on the ground, "C'mon, Tai. You have to try."

"But I'm not hungry."

"Well you should be!" Matt growled fiercely, unable to control his wild emotions, "You haven't eaten in days and you need some sort of strength if you're going to get over this shadow-fever thing!"

"...I'll try," Tai whispered, defeated.

Matt instantly regretted his outburst, trying to tell himself it was worth it to see Tai eat. The boy in question tried to sit up, knowing it was a worthless battle but too stubborn to give up. Realising this, the blond gently slid behind the other, allowing his chest to be used like the back of a chair. Exhausted from just _trying_ to sit up, Tai sighed miserably.

"I'm going to kick this shadow's butt from here to our world for this," Tai mumbled, earning a laugh from him blond friend.

"Sure Tai, just eat first."

He did, though the food made his stomach churn at the mere sight of it. He chewed and swallowed as quickly as possible, trying not to think about anything other than keeping it down. There was no taste or enjoyment from eating like there should have been. Tai had barely made it through the plate of rice crackers when he finally surrendered, moaning softly as his good arm curled around his stomach.

"I can't do this anymore, Yama," he admitted shakily, clamping his mouth shut when he felt the beginnings of bile rise up. Matt didn't know how to respond other than by showing Tai his constant support. He wasn't sure if he was proud or disappointed by how much the other had eaten, so he decided just not to think about it.

Unfortunately, things didn't seem to be getting any better for Tai as he practically folded himself into a ball, determined not to throw up no matter how much his body told him too. He didn't know if his stomach was revolting from the pain, the food or the stress—probably a mix of all three.

Feeling awkward—he'd never taken care of a sick person before, darn it!—Matt tried his best to be helpful; "Maybe you should lie down and get some rest."

Tai's unexpected reaction, however, was sudden and intense as he vehemently shook his head, "Not yet!"

"Why not?" Matt ground out, pushing back the twinges of annoyance he felt.

"Because I'm not ready! I know I don't have a choice, and I know that running won't solve anything, but I don't want to face it yet! I'd much rather be spewing my guts here than in the stupid shadow's void of nothingness!"

"What are you talking about?!" Blue eyes blazed, fear guiding his words more than anger, "What happened to the leader who acted first and thought later? Where did the digidestined of courage go, the one who made us all face our fears and carry on?"

Tai's tormented gaze looked back, first at Matt and then down at his bandage-wrapped hand, "He fought _with_ his friends, to keep them safe. I don't want to be the reason that my friends need protection. At least here I'm not a threat. At least here I can't fail."

As the soft-spoken words sunk in, Tai returned to his ball, the added activity having sent his stomach into new havoc. His confession hung in the air, nearly palpable between the two boys. Suddenly, comfort was spreading through him, originating from the soothing hand buried in his hair.

"You won't fail, Tai. You'd never let us get hurt."

Somewhere, deep down inside himself, Tai dared to believe his best friend.


	5. Rescue Mission 2

Words: 3,946 (slightly smaller than usual)

Notes: The story is getting closer to the end~! It's a lot longer than I originally expected it to be (I wanted to write is as a one-shot. To be "started and finished within the day"... that didn't work).

*

**Rescue Mission #2**

Kari watched the older digidestined gather their things for their rescue mission with something akin to hopeful longing in her eyes. Though she very much wanted to also be part of finding the antidote, the others had told her to stay back along with TK and Jyou. Matt, of course, was preoccupied and no one bothered to tell him of their plan. All Kari could do was hope everything would go well.

"You'll be fast, won't you?" she asked worriedly. Nowhere in her 8-year-old mind did she doubt her big brother, but she was a smart girl and she knew that some things were beyond human control. The faster the others found an antidote, the less suffering she would have to watch him endure.

Sora knelt in front of her, understanding in her eyes, "Of course we'll be fast. You won't even know we're gone!"

Kari smiled brightly, "Okay!" She refused to let worry overcome her any longer, refused to be scared even though deep down she was terrified. As if seeing this, TK ran up to her and grabbed her hand, bringing the hope he was so rightly Chosen for.

"Mimi! We don't need your hair dryer!"

The pink-haired girl crossed her arms, "You don't know that for sure!"

"Please!" Sora sighed exasperatedly, "This is serious! How heavy is your bag?"

"I can carry it!"

"Can we just go?" Koushiro insisted desperately.

Kari clenched her free hand, eyes rapidly filling with tears at the group's fighting. She hated conflict normally, but it was even worse now that it was costing her brother time. She wanted to stop them, to tell them just to cooperate and act like the friends they were. She wanted—

"Enough!"

Startled, she turned to the angry voice like everyone else. A small dinosaur digimon stood shaking, eyes bright with determination. Agumon was not a very fearsome digimon in his rookie state, but he had the group frozen solid.

"We can't waste time! Tai won't get any better if you're all arguing!" It wasn't the scolding in his voice but the tears in his eyes that kept everyone else quiet. "I may not be able to digivolve, and I may not be able to do Tai proud, but at least I know how important this is!" He paused a moment to let the message resonate before suddenly grinning, "Now are we going, or what?"

Kari let out a sigh of relief as the others agreed; they now had a leader and although Agumon couldn't keep them together forever—not like Tai, her mind supplied—he would make the mission work. Indeed, within minutes the odd group of 7 were gone, leaving Kari and TK to watch their fading figures. Patomon and Gatomon remained as silent as they had been since their human partners chose to step back and let the older digidestined do their thing.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Gatomon spoke, "Let's go watch over Tai."

And so they went.

***

Matt looked up at the sound of people approaching, identifying them as non-threatening before turning all attention back to the finally unconscious Tai. Jyou shook his head in slight irritation when he noticed that Matt's single-mindedness had made his little brother look terribly neglected.

Seeking to cheer the two younger digidestined up, he smiled in what he hoped was an encouraging way, "Tai just fell asleep, so hopefully he'll get some rest and be strong against this—"

"He's already asleep?!" Kari exclaimed, eyes wide with worry, "But I didn't get to tell him..." Her sentence dropped off as she knelt beside her brother and took his other hand—the one not being held in a death grip by Matt. The two looked at each other knowingly for a moment, both with a million things they wished they could have said before Tai went into a terrible battle.

"He'll be all right, won't he?" The near-whisper was just loud enough for Kari to hear, and her answer was equally as quiet.

"Don't worry, Matt. He's strong." As those words echoed in their minds, their grips subconsciously tightened, the same thought following;

_And he's not alone._

***

"I can see the castle!"

"You're right! And there aren't even any guards!"

"Maybe they're finally taking a shower..."

"Mimi!"

***

_Tai had known he wasn't going to be able to stay conscious for long. He had known that he would have to fight his shadow, and he had known that he couldn't fail. As the darkness had taken his mind, all doubts disappeared; there was no "what ifs" or "buts", only a determination to finish this whole thing once and for all._

_But he had not known that he would be thrown into the colourful world of what looked to be a faire. Because his mind was still in that weird place between consciousness and sleep—the one where you know you're dreaming but can't do anything about it—he could feel the majority of the pain he had felt in reality. His shoulder still ached abominably, his side throbbed painfully whenever it felt like it, and his head was pulsing. Luckily, because it was a dream, nothing could add to his pain—like walking._

_This he did with complete bewilderment, because nothing made sense. Why was the Ferris wheel rocking back and forth? And how come all of the people had no features? What were the clowns doing on top of the ticket booth? Why were there clowns in the first place?_

"_I don't understand," Tai groaned in irritation, sitting down on a bench shaped like a balled up piece of paper. His mind helpfully supplied him with the imagined feeling of relief at getting off his feet._

_Then the faceless people started running, scrambling around in what looked like panic. They ran right out of Tai's line of sight, leaving the faire ground. Tai just remained where he sat, stunned. Suddenly, his dream world was entirely silent, the colour gone, the rides frozen. Nothing moved. His mind could no longer produce memories of what things felt or smelled like. In essence, all of his senses were gone except for sight._

_And pain. Without the former distractions, the pain became much more obvious. Why he could feel said pain but not the air around him or the bench beneath him, Tai had no idea, but he grit his teeth and endured it._

_~Time to stop fighting~_

_The world was suddenly black._

***

"You don't think this could be a trap, do you?" Mimi asked softly as they stood in front of the wise open back entrance. It was in the same position that Sora remembered leaving it in.

"It doesn't matter, we have to go in."

"I know that," Mimi huffed, "I just think we should know what we're getting into."

Agumon saved them all the trouble of arguing it over by running into the castle. The three humans and their digimon exchanged a single glance and followed. Each remained on their guard while they went through the maze-like hallways, but it was pointless because they didn't see another living thing whatsoever.

"I don't get it! If there aren't any guards outside, then why aren't they in here?" Sora voiced after ten minutes of unsuccessful searching.

Koushiro looked down thoughtfully before he answered, "There're only two realistic possibilities. Either everyone's gathered in another part of the castle, or they abandoned it."

Sora's eyes widened, "But if they abandoned it..."

"Then we may never find the antidote."

Agumon glared determinedly, "We'll find someone! We just have to keep looking!" A moment of awkward silence followed before Mimi suddenly whined.

"Well, can't we at least blast through the walls instead of going in stupid zigzags? My feet are killing me!"

"..."

"Mimi, you're a genius!" Koushiro exclaimed.

The girl's cheeks flushed to match her hair, "I thought it was obvious."

Sora rolled her eyes before grinning at Biyomon, "Well? What do you say? Want to blast down some walls?"

"With pleasure!"

***

"_I won't stop fighting," Tai growled fiercely, glad he was still aware enough of his body to speak. He had been stuck in the gravity-less absolute darkness for what felt like an eternity. It was very similar to the first time, except that he knew he had a body by the pain coursing through every part of it._

_The shadow-creature hadn't "spoken" since the dream world had gone black, but Tai periodically repeated his mantra to keep himself sane. He knew this was most likely a part of the shadow's plan, and he was determined to outlast it. Somewhere at the back of his mind, there was a frightening thought about never waking up and remaining in the darkness forever, and an even scarier one that the shadow may already have control over his body in the real world._

_He adamantly refused these possibilities, trusting there to be a very clear indication of when his body was being taken over._

_Finally, his patience was rewarded as the familiar pin-point of light appeared, growing until it exploded into colours and shapes. Tai sighed with relief even as he shielded his eyes, glad to finally be able to face his enemy head on. When his eyes adjusted to the light, he was once again looking down at his body from the outside. His shadow stood opposite him._

_~You are mine to control~ The hiss made Tai glare icily._

"_I don't belong to anyone!" He took an experimental step forward, and the ground was solid beneath him._

What is this place?_ He thought to himself absently, forgetting that the shadow could hear him._

_~My perception of reality~_

"_Huh?" But the shadow explained no further, so Tai turned his attention back to the scene before him. Matt and Kari were at his body's side, each holding a hand. The thought brought a flutter of comfort to him. He turned slightly to see Jyou, TK, and all of their digimon watching anxiously. They knew he was beyond the help of common medicine._

_For a moment, he let the present danger slip from his mind as he reached out to his sister, wanting to show here that he was fine. The shadow's derisive laugh filled his mind, the only warning he had before his hand passed right through Kari's shoulder as if it were air._

_~You cannot touch them~ The shadow told him belatedly. Frowning, Tai tried instead to reach his own body._

_An ice-cold grip froze him in his place, sending a sudden flare of pain pulsating through his entire body. A white haze frosted over his vision, but he forced his gaze to the inhuman black hand currently wrapped around his arm. Growling, he wrenched himself free and faced the shadow, chest heaving as the pain faded slightly._

"_So we're literally fighting over my body," he stated emotionlessly, having already known it would be so. The shadow said nothing, but Tai could swear its beady little black eyes were calculating. It reached toward him, but Tai angrily swatted the hand away, shivering at the wave of cold and pain it caused just by a second's touch._

_Finally, a hiss once again echoed through his mind, ~There's no need to fight~_

"_Of course I'm going to fight! It's—" but the other's soul-chilling laugh stopped him._

_~There's no need for _me_ to fight. You've lost~_

_A sliver of fear made Tai cautiously move his foot back, getting into a better stance to defend himself. He understood why the creature thought it had already won; just its touch would be able to bring him to his knees, and then all it had to do was go for his unconscious body. Still, Tai let a smirk grace his features._

"_Don't underestimate me."_

_The shadow's laugh swept over the otherwise noiseless dreamscape._

***

"This is it. If there's anyone in this castle, they're behind these doors," Koushiro stated as they all stared at the ornate wooden entrance to what they guessed was a banquet hall.

Already, they'd smashed through bedrooms, dressing rooms, bathrooms, armouries, kitchens, and every other kind of room imaginable. The entire place seemed deserted, things left haphazardly around like the castle's occupants had only just run. This was the last unexplored room.

"Well?" Agmon huffed, breaking the hesitant stillness, "are we going in, or what?"

With a deep breath—a plea for there to be digimon who could show them to an antidote—Mimi and Koushiro pushed open the doors.

The banquet hall was empty.

"It's over..." Sora let out softly, a tone of disbelief in her voice. No one said a word. The quiet of the castle held everyone in their place, hope vanishing. There was no cure, not even a digimon to guide them, friendly or otherwise. How could they return to the rest of the group with only wasted time to show for their efforts? How could they fail Tai, after everything he'd—

"Do you hear that?" Lilymon's faint voice caught their attention. The others blinked, straining to sense whatever Mimi's partner had.

The sound of water splashing around sent them all running to a tiny, barely noticeable room connected to the hall. They froze in the doorway, completely shocked to find a mountain of dirty dishes and, in the midst of it all, an odd monkey-like digimon merrily humming. For a moment, they couldn't believe their eyes, until the digimon stiffened and looked up at them.

"What do you want?" It asked nervously, eyes shifting from humans to digimon. The voice was very obviously female.

The humans exchanged a glance, but it was Agumon who answered, "Your help."

The digimon's gaze flittered to the humans before going back to Agumon, "I can't help you, I have work to do."

"What if we help you in return?"

The digimon seemed to consider it.

"Alright."

***

_Tai felt his body crash into an obviously solid tree with much more realism than he would have liked. He bitterly cursed the unwritten laws that said he could touch the landscape but not his friends. As he pushed himself off the ground, feeling every pain as if it were physical, he realised that in the real world he would have died long ago. Stubbornly, he forced the thought away to look at his foe._

_The shadow-creature was waiting somewhat curiously, as if it didn't know why its victim was still moving. It had used no effort to fling Tai back again and again, patiently waiting for him to stay down. But that was something Tai would not do; this was his spirit fighting, pain or no pain, and he would press on until one of them could no longer rise._

_~A spirit can die, you know~ the ghostly voice told him, not at all phased by Tai's unsteady steps toward it._

_But Tai single-mindedly ignored it. He already knew that it was impossible for him to fight forever. He wasn't even trying to fight, really—to do so would cost only him, not the creature—but rather trying to reach his body. He didn't exactly know what would happen, but it was obvious that it was his best course because the shadow never let him get too close._

_Once, when he was stronger, he had pushed past his foe and the tips of his fingers brushed his physical body, bringing an odd sensation of pins and needles, as if his hand had been asleep and had just been stirred. But then the shadow had thrown him away again, just as it was ready to do now. Still, Tai stayed as far away from it as possible while he lunged for his body._

_The ice grip on his injured shoulder cut off everything but the pain and an oddly distant sound of a soul-wrenching scream, which he was too lost to realise was his. This time he was not tossed away like a rag doll, but rather held relentlessly in that draining grasp, brought unknowingly to his knees. He felt his mind growing fuzzy in an attempt to ease the indescribable pain, but something inside of him knew that to give in to sleep would be the true end._

_~You've lost~ a hiss repeated in his mind, and finally Tai was left to fall lifelessly to the ground, the shadow moving toward his defenceless body._

***

"He's moving!" TK suddenly exclaimed, his excitement jolting the others out of their reveries. They took a closer look at their leader's prone body, attention drawn to the fist that continuously clenched and unclenched in Kari's grip. For a second, relief lit their worry-lined faces.

"Maybe he was able to fight the shadow off!" Jyou said hopefully as he forced himself to take a step forward instead of back. Tai's arm twitched, but his sleeping features didn't change. Instantly, Matt and Kari were on their feet, looking down warily. When Tai's other arm began to move—his injured, supposedly unmovable one—the two backed away entirely, a tense silence following as they waited for something more to happen.

The group of four humans and their digimon formed a circle around their leader, none within arm's reach. Finally, chocolate brown eyes snapped open, a hunger burning within. Their final hope died like the last leaf in autumn as they knew, without doubt, that it wasn't their Tai they were looking at.

"What do we do now, Matt?" Jyou whispered, eyes never leaving the threat in front of him, "Do you think we can tie him up?"

The blond felt like running, far away and without a single look back, but he only let out a half-desperate whine, "I don't know! The shadow or whatever wouldn't hesitate to kill us, but I certainly can't kill Tai!" It was the unfortunate truth; they were at the disadvantage, despite their numbers.

Shadow-Tai sat up, looking around at the useless attempt at keeping it from leaving with its new body. Any one of them would be an easy target to simply throw aside like it'd done to the one he currently possessed, but one face from his host's thoughts came up; a little 8-year-old girl. Grinning, the shadow flexed his new legs in preparation to stand.

"It's getting up!"

"I can see that!" Matt growled fiercely, tensing as what was no longer Tai stood up. The creature never said a word, which was a good thing for them since it would have been Tai's voice.

_~Such simple prey~_ the shadow thought as it finally stepped forward, closing the distance to "his" little sister.

Kari glared, completely unafraid, "You can't scare me, you stupid shadow! Tai won't ever hurt me!"

Inwardly, the shadow laughed, moving forward at a very slow, patient rate. Gatomon, however, was standing ready, fur raised threateningly and claws unsheathed. She didn't know how Kari put her trust so completely into a possessed body, but she wouldn't let her partner get hurt. Shadow-Tai stepped forward once more, finally within reach of its newest victim.

_~Such simply prey~_ it repeated calmly to itself, lazily bringing his host's injured arm up. It felt no pain, nor the tearing of the infected wound, though it knew the pain would be very real for the one left forgotten in a dream world. The very thought made a malicious smirk form on "his" face.

Still, Kari did not move, "You can't hurt me!"

With every intention of crushing her puny little neck, the shadow reached forward and—

Suddenly, its arm was frozen. Furiously, it tried to use the other arm, only to be stopped within centimetres of the child's throat.

_~What is this?!~_ it hissed, a terrible anger in the words that only Tai could hear.

A weak voice answered it, _You will never touch my sister._

***

"I've only been to the Doctor's room once, so I don't really think I'll be much help," the monkey—Kosarumon, they'd learned—told her small group of followers. The childish digimon didn't trust humans, but she had taken a liking to Mimi and her magical "fur-dryer", thus the group consisted of her and her digimon partner, Tentomon—who made said magical fur-dryer work—and Agumon. The latter had simply refused to stay behind and wash dishes like every one else.

"You do know the way though, right?" Tentomon asked warily, hovering beside Kosarumon.

The digimon in question huffed indignantly, "Of course! We're already here!" At those words, everyone looked up to see a simple wooden door surrounding by stone walls. They'd been led down a hidden stairway and through a series of maze-like tunnels for this?

"Are you sure this is it? It's awfully boring," Mimi mused as the strange monkey pushed open the door. Instantly, her question was answered as the lights flickered on, reflecting off the many metal tools and glass containers of unidentifiable liquids. It was like a chemist's lab from one of those science-fiction novels she secretly enjoyed reading.

Lilymon made a contemplative noise, "How are we going to find it?"

Kosarumon shrugged, "I don't know. I told you I've only been here once."

"Do you think something could be labelled 'Antidote for poison that controls people with a shadow'?" Mimi said hopefully, knowing full well that there would be no such thing.

"No, but we could start with that obvious-looking table in the center."

"...That might work," Mimi agreed, following Tentomon. Agumon, they suddenly realised, was already there, standing on the tips of his claws in an attempt to see the various beakers. Lilymon helpfully lifted him up and together, the four of them carefully examined the table.

"Look! They're labelled! This one says 'Weapon'."

"I've got 'Food'."

"The green one is 'Sleep'."

Agumon sighed, frustrated, "But what do they all _mean_?"

Suddenly, Kosarumon was at their side, "Oh, that's easy. Our Supreme Ruler ordered us each to have a controller on us at all times, to recruit people to our cause. The—"

"A controller," Mimi interrupted, "Like a remote?"

The monkey digimon looked confused, "No, a _controller_. You know, that controls things."

The group let out a gasp, "That's it!"

"What's it?" Kosarumon wondered, completely left out of the loop, "I thought you wanted to know what the labels meant?" Everyone fell silent and nodded eagerly, hope rising now that there were finally getting answers.

Shrugging, Kosarumon continued, "Well, they're actually pretty obvious. The labels tell us how to use the controller. 'Sleep' is for when someone's sleeping, 'Food' for when they're eating, 'Weapon'—"

"For Tai," Agumon voiced softly, once more cutting of the other digimon. The words brought reality crashing down, crushing their previous light-headed feeling of success and bringing the situation into focus.

Determined, Mimi turned completely toward Kosarumon, "Which one is the antidote?"

"Oh," the monkey blinked, "We don't have one of those."

***

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Sora sighed, "I sure hope that digimon wasn't joking around when she said she'd help us."

Koushiro shrugged wearily, "Nothing we can do but hope, right?"

Biyomon fell back, exhausted, "Does hoping involve more dishes?"

* * *

*

Footnotes: ^^

Point #1: Kosarumon -- I made it up. It means "small monkey-mon" lol. It is not a part of the original Digimon storyline. (Mind, very little of this story is)

Point #2: The hair-dryer -- I wanted to show how Mimi isn't as ...fluffy-headed as a lot of people think she is (while keeping her in character) which is why the hair-dryer ended up being rather significant to Kosarumon's helping them.


	6. The Final Battle

Words: 4,125

Notes: ... the end found itself, I guess u.u I still have another short epilogue thingy (the true ending), which I can post soon, but still... this story that was never meant to go anywhere ended up being my longest FINISHED story to date ^^ I think I'll miss it~

*

**The Final Battle**

_He had very little of his mind left, all of it concentrating on keeping his fingers curled around the shadow-creature's freezing arms. He had no thoughts in his head other than the need to protect his friends. He didn't even know what was going on in the world around him, dream or reality. All Tai really knew was the pain; if his pain stopped, it meant he had let go of the shadow and his friends would be in danger. So he never let the pain stop. Well... that was the plan, anyway._

_The reality around him—or at least the shadow's perception of it—showed his body fall as the creature returned to Tai's dreamscape, anger nearly tangible around it. Tai wasn't aware of this new development, though, because all of his attention remained on maintaining his deadly grip._

_~You are a great nuisance!~ a voice tried to tell him, though he hadn't listened. The shadow seethed as it tried to pry Tai off. ~I will kill you! And then every one of your friends!~ If he had been capable of understanding the words, Tai would have laughed; it was the most the shadow had ever said, and the most human emotion it had shown._

_The pain was increasing, he dimly realised, but he couldn't seem to mind. After all, pain meant he hadn't failed. Suddenly, he felt an imagined feeling of wind passing around him and the cold in his body fade. _You let go_, his mind informed him, but he had no time to contemplate it as the terrible sensation of pins and needles engulfed his whole body._

_A frigid cry of frustration was the last thing he heard before he was roughly dumped back into reality._

***

As he slowly regained control of his senses, Tai realised it wasn't much different from unconsciousness. He still couldn't move and he still couldn't rest knowing it would put his friends in danger. The only positive change was that his mind was a little clearer—he was able to think, and thus able to realise that it would only be a brief reprieve. He wondered how the shadow had made such a stupid mistake as flinging him toward his body...

Taking advantage of his temporary state of awareness, Tai forced words out of his too-dry mouth, "Wha—oing—on?" Or at least, he tried to; the words somehow came out both slurred and cracked. Nonetheless, it had the desired effect as he heard his sister's cry of relief.

"Tai! You're back! I knew you couldn't hurt me!" Though he couldn't define her for the fuzziness of his vision, he was able to figure out her general direction. Not that it mattered; he could hardly turn his head.

A soft sad voice rose from somewhere out of his line of vision, "You can't stay long, can you?" Tai shook his head as best he could, tears building at the sound of his angel's voice. He wanted so much to let go, to give someone else his terrible burden, to sleep peacefully in Matt's arms...

But he wouldn't. He would finish this whole thing once and for all. The sudden conviction and strength of spirit—the result of being with his friends and no longer alone—made an almost forgotten smile form on his tired face. Everything would be okay, he told himself, closing his eyes wearily. Everything would be okay...

***

"What?! How can there be no cure?" Agumon cried desperately, squirming out of Lilymon's grip to stand face to face with the monkey digimon.

"We had no reason to make one," Kosarumon said indifferently, as if it were a mere fact and not the thing on which their friend's life rested.

"But there must be something!" Mimi begged anxiously, tears springing to her eyes.

The monkey considered it, "Well, once I remember we had to use a potion that took the controller out of the digimon, because the digimon's body was about to leave our world and we wanted to keep our new worker. So the potion gave it a physical form." Suddenly, Kosarumon found herself scooped up into the pink-haired girl's arms tightly.

"That's good enough!"

"It doesn't hurt the host, does it?" Tentomon asked cautiously, not yet daring to hope once again.

Still surprised, the now very-content monkey digimon shook her head absent-mindedly, "No, but the controller turns into a pretty scary shadow creature."

Reassured, Tentomon asked the question that was on all of their minds, "Where is it?"

Kosarumon pointed to a small purple vial with her tail, "Right there." Instantly, Mimi snatched it from the table, clutching it to her chest much like she was doing to the digimon. Within seconds, they were gone, racing back to the others with a vengeance. Amazingly, they didn't get lost.

When first Sora's soap-soaked body came into view, and then Koushiro and Biyomon's, Agumon called out triumphantly, "We've got it!"

The entire group was in the air before even a minute had passed.

Stunned, Kosarumon waved after them belatedly, "Bye..."

***

_~I should have killed you long ago!~_

_It was the shadow's livid voice that told Tai he had once again lost consciousness, for once just going straight to the weird place where he could hit trees but went right through people. He was pleasantly surprised to find himself standing, only the bearable pain from reality coursing through him. It was like he had never fought the shadow—like he was getting a second chance. Unfortunately, his enemy seemed awfully angry._

_~There will be no more playing, now~ the shadow hissed vehemently._

When were we playing?_ Tai thought to himself tiredly, thoroughly sick of fighting. Regardless, the creature crawled its way through the very air itself, heading straight for him. Oddly enough, Tai didn't really care; his attention was on the reality that he couldn't touch. On Matt and Kari and their faces lined with worry as they took care of his body._

_The shadow was speeding up, nearly upon him, but Tai was entirely relaxed. _There's no need to fight_, his body told him. The clawed, undoubtedly ice-cold hand that reached out for him brought things quickly into perspective, and suddenly a fire lit in his very spirit. A confident grin spread across his face._

"_Try your worst! I may fall, but I'll never stay down!"_

***

It was Patomon who saw them first from his position on TK's head. Originally, he had thought it was just a passing digimon, but as the flying creature drew closer, he realised it could only be Birdramon—which meant they may have found an antidote. Excitedly, he began to jump up and down on his partner.

"They're back! They're back!" Instantly, everyone was looking to the sky, spirits soaring, save for the very confused Matt.

"Who's back? The others? When did they leave? Why—" He was silenced by his little brother's sudden embrace.

The young boy looked close to tears, "He'll be okay, Matt! Tai's gonna be alright!"

Kari's grip unconsciously tightened, her eyes fixed on what was now very clearly the rest of their group. She couldn't tell if they had any cure or not, but she let herself hope. When they were just about on the ground, the area erupted into chaos.

"We got it!" Mimi shouted, jumping off her ride's foot and running up to Jyou. Sora was close behind and Koushiro was already at Tai's side.

Matt, however, was getting annoyed, "You got what?"

Sora turned to him, a gentle smile on her face, "The antidote, of course." Blue eyes widened as a small purple bottle was pulled out, suddenly feeling very close to tears himself.

"There's only one problem," Koushiro began, still looking over his friend sadly, "The potion gives whatever's controlling Tai—"

"A shadow," Kari put in quietly, forcing herself to loosen her now too-tight grip.

Koushiro shrugged, "Right, well it gives the shadow a physical body. But—"

This time, it was Matt who interrupted, "For Tai, it doesn't matter! There's fifteen of us! We can fight it!"

"Exactly," the small genius confirmed.

"Can we hurry it up?" Agumon growled impatiently. He wanted his partner back. Without a word, Sora handed Matt the bottle and with one fortifying breath, the blond uncorked it and pressed it to their leader's lips.

_Please let this work._

***

_He was on his knees again for the umpteenth time. True to his word, no matter how much the shadow forced him down, he always got back up. Often, he was too lost in his own world of pain to even realise he was standing, but somehow his body was actually listening to him._

_Then the oddest thing happened; the world around him began to crack, as if it were made of glass, and the shadow creature was frozen where it stood—hand mere centimetres from Tai. The first thing to shatter was a tree, sending very realistic shards of itself into the wind. Within seconds, these shards had crumbled to sand and were gone._

_The landscape followed, until Tai was floating in near absolute darkness, only the shadow still with him. He had no idea what was going on, but he watched bewildered as the creature started to crumble too. Slowly, he felt himself falling, his mind finally shutting down for a much needed _dreamless_ sleep._

_His last coherent thought was if it was possible to fall asleep when you're already sleeping._

***

When nothing had happened at first, they thought that the antidote had failed. Hands had begun to clench and tears to build. Then, without warning, Tai's body convulsed, and for a very terrifying moment, they thought they'd made his illness worse. It wasn't until they noticed a mysterious black shadowy substance seemingly seeping out of their leader that they realised what was going on. It was like a swirling mass of darkness, shaping itself into a vaguely humanoid figure.

"It worked," Jyou exhaled disbelievingly, unable to look away from the creature that was nearly fully-formed.

Mimi, on the other hand, couldn't stand to face the nightmarish shadow, "That was inside _Tai_?" Her voice was full of the same fear that made her want to run very far and very fast. The same fear that was inside all of them. Instead, she clenched her fist and forced herself to look at the creature. Like the others currently surrounding their leader in a defensive circle, she was tense and, in a sense, ready to fight.

As soon as its mouth had formed, the shadow let out a vehement hiss, "He was mine!" Unlike in Tai's mind, this voice was much less strong and powerful, as if the creature was weakened.

Regardless, its words caused a very violent reaction in Matt, "He was not yours! He would never be yours! He's too strong for something as pitiful as you!" The rest of the group stood frozen, agreeing with the words wholeheartedly but not expecting them from the blond loner's mouth.

The shadow seemed to grow even blacker in its anger, body finally finished shifting. It now had what could be called legs supporting it, but looked more like the roots of a tree. Its arms were the most human-like, apart from the deadly claws and overly long fingers. Its head—everyone tried not to look at that, for all the evil and hate inside of the shadow had obviously gone into the formation of its head.

"That is one ugly creature," Mimi let out accidentally, voicing her thoughts. Though the others didn't laugh, their hands unclenched slightly as a bit of the tension was relieved.

The shadow only grew angrier, "I will destroy him!"

But almost instantly, he was facing seven very fight-ready champion-level digimon.

"You won't touch him," Agumon spat, feeling almost as though he could digivolve all on his own just to get some form of revenge on the thing that had hurt his partner so. But he knew it would be pointless anyway; they had more than enough firepower, if the shadow's panicking was anything to go by. As Garurumon took a step forward, the creature hastily moved its own root-like legs back, head swivelling to look for options.

There were none, and the creature knew it. Still, it charged blindly forward, heading straight for the one most like to rip its very head off. Matt smirked, and without a word, Garurumon gladly attacked, dragging the shadow down with sharp claws ready to tear. The last thing the creature managed to do before its body dissipated into a black fog was let out a long, inhuman scream. Then even the fog faded, leaving only the stunned silence that follows a long-winded battle.

After a few moments, Sora sunk tiredly to the ground, "That's it."

Jyou, however, snapped into action, "We still have to get rid of his fever and keep his wounds from getting infected! It's amazing his body was able to fight all of that, and I don't think he'll have any strength left to fend off the rest of it. We need—"

But Kari cut him off, relief on her features, "He'll be okay now." Her voice was that of complete confidence, as if she could see into the future.

"...I hope you're right."

***

It wasn't until midnight that things settled down for the digidestined. Jyou had finally managed to bring Tai's fever down to the point where all that was left was to let it run its natural course. Then he gracelessly joined the younger ones in the world of deep unconsciousness. Kari had fallen asleep hours before, after she knew her brother was safe, even though still plagued with fever. None of the others questioned that deep faith.

Mimi and Sora had been acting as Jyou's gophers—running off to get whatever he needed to bring Tai's fever down. They had settled into sleep shortly after the doctor-to-be, their digimon partners doing the same. Koushiro was working away on his laptop furiously, inputting every scrap of data he'd learned from the whole fiasco, while his eyes discreetly strayed from computer to Tai. He wasn't about to let his friend out of sight again.

TK, though he'd also gone to bed shortly after the sun set, had stayed persistently by Matt's side up until then, keeping his brother company while they watched over their leader. Now, the night was calm, silent except for the steady clicking of Koushiro's keys. Even Matt's body had surrendered to exhaustion, and he had fallen asleep on top of Tai, slumped over in an undoubtedly uncomfortable position.

Finally, all was peaceful.

Then, abruptly, the _clackity-clack_ of computer keys stopped. Koushiro's gaze no longer flickered, but remained fixed on the seemingly motionless body of his best friend. Patiently, he waited.

The first sign that something was happening was the twitch of Tai's uninjured arm, followed by a heavily stifled groan. Smiling slightly, Koushiro pushed his computer to the side and crawled closer to their waking leader. He waited a few more moments until brown eyes slid open.

"Hey Tai."

The boy in question only grunted, mind barely working enough to make out the other's soft words. It didn't help that he had at least fifteen pounds of dead-weight on his chest. But as he looked to see what exactly that weight was, a fond smile grew on his face and he relaxed, finally turning his attention to Koushiro. Questions began running through his mind, but they were cut off by his friend's smirk.

"Don't even start," the small genius laughed, "First off, you've only been asleep for a few hours. You'll definitely need more. Second, everyone is perfectly fine. The shadow went down instantly. Third, it's gone for good. And fourth, we made sure he took care of his own health while he was watching over you." The last, though it wasn't said directly, was obviously a reference to Matt.

Tai blinked, surprised at the depth of Koushiro's understanding of him. Then he grinned and tiredly shut his eyes once more, reassured that all was well.

"Oh, and Tai?"

Almost annoyed, Tai didn't even bother look at his friend, replying with only a soft, "Hm?"

Koushiro gently laid a hand on his friend's shoulder, "Everyone needs support sometimes. It's what makes us human."

As he faded back into another dreamless sleep, Tai managed one last thought:

_Being human is a lot more than I ever gave it credit for._

***

Tai didn't wake up for quite some time after talking with Koushiro at two in the morning, long enough that the others had already had both breakfast and lunch. When he finally drifted back into the world of the living, and managed to open his eyes, he was completely alone. His sister was not curled up beside him, where he last remembered her. Koushiro wasn't sitting nearby, fingers running over computer keys. And Matt wasn't at his side, the steady presence that Tai had almost come to expect. Everyone was gone.

It wasn't a very heart-warming thought.

For that terrifying moment, it was like Tai's worst fears had come true. The others had realised he wasn't a good leader and left him behind. Even his sister had given up on him, and Matt, and Agumon—but then he snapped himself out of his panicking thoughts. His friends wouldn't do that, right?

Groaning, Tai attempted to turn over and go back to sleep, hoping to banish the stupid, run-around-in-circles type thoughts. He was stopped, however, by a sudden jolt of pain washing over his body, originating from his shoulder. The first waved caused a domino effect, and soon he was reminded of every imagined hit he'd taken against the shadow. Angrily, Tai forced himself to sit up anyway, sick of all the pain and sick of being under its control.

"Stupid body," he muttered when only his shoulder remained throbbing, barely even able to recognise his rough voice. For a while, he just sat there, debating whether he should try to stand up.

A surprised voice broke into his musings, "Tai?"

Jumping slightly in his spot, the boy in question tried to turn to the voice, recognising it instantly. Unfortunately, turning wasn't an option with his battered body. Annoyed, Tai cursed it once more, though not aloud.

Suddenly, Matt was right in front of him, crouching to his level, "How is it that when I leave for two minutes, you finally decide to wake up?"

Tai blinked once before a wide smile took over his face, spurred on by the warmth spreading from his heart. His angel had never left him after all. He had the nearly insatiable urge to tackle the other to the ground and never let go, but his shoulder painfully refused. He settled instead for simply taking in every inch of the one he didn't want to live without.

His eyes stopped abruptly on the still-bandaged hand. The happiness shattered, making way for reality.

"Tai?" Matt questioned softly, falling back into a much more comfortable sitting position. He was a little worried about the other's silence, coupled with the suddenly guilty expression. Where had the smile gone so quickly? Following Tai's gaze, he realised what had captured the other's attention.

"I could have stopped it," Tai whispered painfully, not even sure himself who he was talking to.

Matt sighed, "Don't start that again. Haven't we already been through this?"

The brunet shook his head wildly, "I'm sure I could've stopped it! All I would have had to do is... is... I don't know, but I should have tried harder! I never wanted to hurt you—" He was cut off by a tight embrace, both because of the warning twinges of pain and the sudden comfort.

"It's not like it'll never heal," Matt told him in a slightly scornful tone, not letting him go.

"But—"

Matt growled, "What do you want me to do? Hate you for it? Break _your_ hand? Never go near you again?"

Instantly, Tai was returning the embrace desperately, burying his head in the crook of the other's neck, "No..." Matt could feel the warm liquid soaking into his shirt, but he didn't care. He was out of ideas to get Tai to forgive himself. If this didn't work...

Using a soft voice, Matt tried once more, "What do you want me to do?"

"...Forgive me..."

"I do."

"...I know," Tai finally admitted, barely a whisper.

Hesitantly, Matt let go, waiting for Tai to do the same so that he could look into chocolate brown eyes. There he saw the pain and the guilt—the heavy burden that Tai had to bear—but also the strength with which he'd always borne it. The strength they had all come to depend on, knowingly or not. Somewhere deep down, Matt knew that if they didn't clear everything up now, Tai would simply add it to his already too-heavy weight and move on until it festered like the wound on his shoulder. He couldn't let that happen. For once, he would have to be strong for his leader.

"You didn't fail, you know. None of us are hurt, and you're going to be fine. We're all together, aren't we? How could that be failure?"

Tai would've answered—to say that it was his fault in the first place—but the words just couldn't seem to make it out. Perhaps it was the slowing tears, or maybe from all the abuse his throat had taken over the last few days, but regardless, he was forced into silence.

Matt himself was at a loss. Honestly, he wasn't cut out for this comforting thing. He didn't know what to say to make everything all right or how to make his best friend—no, Tai was more than that—let go of his own pain and guilt. All he had going for him was a sincere concern and need to see the other well again, inside and out.

Seeing this, Tai stopped the guilty rambling in his head and cleared his mind, looking at the situation from a different light.

Did anyone get hurt? _I hurt Matt_, he reminded himself. But no, that had already been forgiven.

Was anyone uncertain? Scared? Sad? _Just me..._ He realised that his wellbeing was the only thing the others were currently worrying about.

Was there anything he could've done differently? _Everything_—but what could he have changed, realistically? He isn't a fortune-teller, so it's not like he could have avoided the others getting captured. He wouldn't have let Matt take the poisoned dagger even if he _could_ see the future. Really...

"I hurt you," Tai stated matter-of-factly, laying out the facts for himself. Blond brows furrowed in confusion, but Tai continued nevertheless, "I didn't do it on purpose. I don't know how I stopped the shadow, and probably couldn't have figured it out. It wasn't really me, anyway. I can't see the future. I couldn't have changed anything."

A thought suddenly occurred to Matt; if he hadn't charged blindly at the enemy digimon, then Tai wouldn't have gotten poisoned in the first place. In the sense, he had caused the other to suffer so terribly. He would have been the reason for the nearly indistinguishable light to fade.

The two looked at each other searchingly, and against everything Matt would have expected, Tai smiled brightly, "I made mistakes, but that means I'm human, right? We all make mistakes, but that doesn't mean we fail. In the end, I don't think I'd change a thing."

The innocence and purity that was Tai seemed to wash away all of Matt's building self-doubt, as if it had never been there. It was the same for everyone; Tai was their leader, and they put their complete trust in him. In return, he kept them together, never blamed them, never let them down.

Finally, Matt smiled too, "It's the past, right?"

"Right!" Tai laughed, "Now if my shoulder would stop hurting, everything would be perfect."

"Oh, and I suppose my hand means nothing?"

"Exactly."

Gently, Matt knocked the other on the back of the head, "Idiot."

Tai got his silly, characteristic grin on his face, "Yeah, but you still love me, right?"

All of a sudden, both boys froze, twin blushes spreading across their cheeks. These blushes deepened as each thought over the events of the last few days. Though no one said anymore on the subject that day, two hands hesitantly entwined; a silent comfort. A silent promise for something more.


	7. Epilogue: Moving Forward

Words: 675 (Short~! )

Notes: First, I'm sorry it's so short, but it was never meant to be anything more than a glimpse of what happens next. Second, to all those who were waiting all story long for the romance between Yama + Tai to blossom, this may disappoint you *bows apologetically* It's hinted, but still too early for anything deeper u.u On a brighter note, having finished this story with almost no romance, I feel the need to write something adorable, fluffy and romance-y ^^ And third, to all those who reviewed, I wish I could tell you just how much it helped me write. Not just this story, but all of my stories, and all of my ideas. You guys are like... like the water that allows a flower to live (yes, I'm corny, I admit it) :P Thank you everyone~!

*

**Epilogue – Moving Forward**

"Can't we just take a short break?" Mimi whined, dragging behind the rest of the group. They had been walking for just short of an hour, but already the "drama queen" was sick of it. The rest of the group sighed collectively, having already answered the same question seven times before.

At the front of their group, Tai inwardly grit his teeth. Within two days of waking up, he'd decided that his body had had enough time to rest, despite the many protests. Jyou in particular almost considered chaining their leader down until at least his shoulder wound had properly closed. But Tai insisted on moving on, and so they did. Unfortunately, just this first hour of walking had brought to reality just how tired his body really was. Perhaps a break wouldn't be so bad...

"You alright there, Tai?" Matt asked lightly, his tone only sarcastic on the surface. He didn't know who he was pretending for; the group or himself.

The boy in question was about to answer with his usual "fine", but a throb of pain from his shoulder cut off his voice. He grimaced, thinking that his body was revolting against him. Why did it choose the most inopportune moments to remind him of the fact that he shouldn't be moving around?

Matt snorted, "I should have known." Without another word, he stopped walking, thereby making Tai stop as well, seeing as Matt was currently his "walking stick". The rest of the group took the cue easily, having been secretly watching for it since they'd started out.

With a sigh, Tai allowed himself to lean tiredly against the other, "I can keep going, you know."

"Sure," Matt stated with a roll of the eyes. It wasn't that Tai was unable to keep going—he'd proved to be too much of an idiot to give up peacefully—but that he _shouldn't_ keep going. Instead of pointing this out, however, he simply led Tai to a decent tree and made him sit. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Tai watched as the blond walked away, undoubtedly off to get him food. Brown eyes began to roam, taking in the changes to their group. Their hard battle bore many consequences, both good and bad.

The way Jyou walked more confidently, ready to do his job and knowing he was capable. How Sora took more time to listen to the younger digidestined, becoming even more of a mother figure than before. Mimi and Koushiro's watching eyes, looking for signs of danger just in case. TK's newfound place, no longer feeling like just a little kid. Tai could see the growth in everyone.

He wondered if the others could see the changes in him too. He might recover from the shadow's poison entirely, maybe even heal without scars, but he knew that he would never forget. Not just the pain, but how quickly a leader could fall. Still, a smile remained on his face, expression peaceful. He might have no one guiding him, but maybe that was alright. Perhaps he could bear the weight of being leader a little longer, until they were all safe.

"Tai?"

Looking up at not only Matt, but the entire group, Tai cocked his head to the side curiously, "Yeah?"

Sora held out a plate of food, smiling gently, "We're all in this together."

"I know," Tai grinned, taking the plate. The others all found comfortable spots around their leader, happy to enjoy a break that _didn't_ involve fearing for anyone's health.

As he cheerfully dug into his food, Tai felt all worry disappear, if only for the moment. Sure, he might one day fall again, but he knew that he'd have his friends to help him back up.

"Tai! That was supposed to be for all of us!"

...maybe.

*

~Owari~

*


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